HOW TO DEAL WITH THE VICTIM MENTALITY AND OWN YOUR LIFE   Life will present a thousand and one reasons for you to quit and give up when things get tough, but how you choose to respond to these challenges is the most significant power you have at your disposal, and that's taking responsibility!   My guest today is Ryan Michler, host of the highly popular Order of Man Podcast. In this episode, he shares how he bounced out of some deep despair that included separating from his wife for 4 months which in turn saved his marriage that was headed for divorce.   Ryan also found himself unhealthy on every level and decided to also use that time to transform his health from the inside out. Now, please bear in mind that taking responsibility and not playing the victim was the most incredible power he had to change everything. He also shares his intriguing story of growing up without a permanent father figure and how that didn't stop him from raising sons and being an amazing dad.   He also shares some bulletproof advice on how to overcome the victim mindset and deal with criticism and so much more!   Ryan's backstory   A little over 13 years ago, Ryan was incredibly overweight and at the brink of getting divorced from his wife. Eventually, they got separated. It was a challenging time for him, and at some point in the early stage of the separation, he resorted to blaming his wife for the divorce. He felt there was a lot she could have done. He thought she was disloyal. It took him months into the separation to realize he had a considerable part to play as well. This realization transformed the situation around, and the break only lasted four months. Ryan had to quit playing the victim and "own" his life. He had to take responsibility for his life for the first time and stopped casting blame on everyone around him. He realized that there are things he could do right. There are things within his reach. There are things within his control and things he could influence. He realized he had more power over many things, and he began to effect changes on these things. As he said, that is what responsibility is about. It is the power that could change one's life. Not taking responsibility for the things happening around you is giving that power to someone else. What that person decides to do with that can have a negative effect on your life. The results of Ryan taking ownership of his life and shouldering the responsibility has restored his marriage. Ryan and his wife have been married now for 16 years. They are blessed with four beautiful kids and are living in their dream home. This all inspired to start his "Order of Man" podcast and movement to help men become the best version of themselves.      Topics Discussed   -Ryan's Advice on how to quit playing the victim -How fitness has shaped Ryan's general outlook on life -Ryan's take on on how to express emotions the right way - The best advice for new parents -How mentorship can speed up your journey to successes -Ryan's best practices for dealing with criticisms    Some important takeaways   -Want to see improvements in other facets of your life? Start with fitness. Fitness teaches you to have a structure in your life, builds your confidence as the rewards are usually instantaneous, especially for the men. -Apart from routine workouts, plan out every single day of your life. -Emotions are there as a metric check for you, just like a fuel tank. If you give your emotions too much power or don't give them enough credit, then they'll control you, and you don't want that! -Be more of a mentor and guardian to your children and do not make all the decisions for them. Allow them to make mistakes and learn. -Your life's journey can be less of a burden with a coach/mentor by your side. -Be willing to spend your resources to improve your life, unless you want to get it done by yourself with many mistakes and time wasted. -Take nothing personally and maintain your focus on those who are positively impacted by your work.    Connect with Ryan Michler: Instagram: www.instagram.com/ryanmichler/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/orderofman Twitter: www.twitter.com/orderofman Podcast: Order of Man Website: www.orderofman.com     Build a plan for growth and expansion over a 30day timeframe www.orderofman.com/battleready   Connect with Doug Instagram: www.instagram.com/dougbopst Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dougbopst Website: www.dougbopst.com/   Private Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/690686891674188     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Taking responsibility for your choices in life is incredibly empowering. It also means you acknowledge that no one has the power to determine how your life turns out other than yourself! It's up to you!   Today, my guest, Lauryn Evarts Bosstick (also known as The Skinny Confidential), and I will be sharing our challenging life stories to inspire you on how to turn your pain to purpose, ultimately leading you to find that inner fulfillment in your own life's journey. Lauryn shares her pretty tough upbringing involving death, divorce, despair, pain, and frustration.   We also chat about how to set boundaries, the power of community, how she manages anxiety and also some tips on entrepreneurship and so much more. I also share parts of my story including chatting about being incarcerated and how it relates to the isolation that many of us are facing now.   Lauryn has turned her passion for beauty, wellness, and no-censor advice into one of the most distinctive blogs online today, The Skinny Confidential. She also co-hosts the highly popular cheeky entrepreneurial podcast, The Skinny Confidential HIM & HER with her husband and previous podcast guest, Michael Bosstick.     Lauryn's backstory   She was blessed with really amazing parents who were both entrepreneurs and creatives, but eventually, things became a bit chaotic after her parents, like many, got divorced. The pain didn't stop there, Lauryn, at the young age of 18 lost her mother to suicide, this is why she is so passionate with mental health.    While she had her struggles growing up, she believes those experiences shaped her into the person she has become and also fueled her pursuit of achieving greatness. Lauryn's success was sponsored by the decision not to play the victim but dictate her life outcomes by taking responsibility and extreme ownership for her decisions and choices.   Some of the Topics discussed:   -Lauryn's incredibly inspiring backstory  -Managing anxiety to becoming the best version of yourself. -Lauryn's advice on setting boundaries, protecting your mental health, and protecting your space. -My jail experience compared with the lockdown period - Advice for budding entrepreneurs - Chasing after success in business the right way - Lauryn's advice to her younger self   My jail experience compared with the lockdown period.   I was incarcerated and had an oxycontin addiction to the point where half of my left nose was missing. I was constipated for a month. When it came out of my system, I was faced with me and me in jail, and all the masks came off. My emotions were as real and raw as ever, and I was forced to deal with them healthily. I was forced to start working out, to start practicing gratitude, and changing the way I talked to myself. Because of all that, I began to reattach behaviors. The difference now is that when I was in jail, I knew when I was getting out. I knew when my probation was up. Now [in the lockdown], there's so much uncertainty.   Some people may never get to jail, but they will experience mental prison. Until you work through that stuff, you won't be able to experience true fulfillment. Not success, fulfillment!     Lauryn on how she managed anxiety to be the best version of herself/tips for the audience   -Connect with yourself -Get outside and spend time in nature. -Do breathwork. -Have a morning routine. -Be a gatekeeper of your time and a practitioner of your calendar. -Have your toolbox and create microsystems to use those tools.   Tested steps to turning your pain to purpose:   Have a strong 'why,' quit listening to every single opinion about your life, and prioritize yourself.   Some other takeaways: - Suppress your emotions, and you will have them creep up on you later in life  - If you burn out and you're struggling with your mental health, it will be very difficult to help others - Examine the kind of energy you allow around you and ensure that your relationships have depths.  - If you're trying to build something meaningful, there has to be a strong 'why' behind what you're doing. - Quit listening to every single opinion about you and prioritize yourself     Connect with Lauryn Bosstick: Instagram: www.instagram.com/theskinnyconfidential Instagram: www.instagram.com/tscpodcast Podcast: The Skinny Confidential HIM & HER.   Connect with Doug Instagram: www.instagram.com/dougbopst Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dougbopst Website: www.dougbopst.com/   Private Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/690686891674188   More on Earth Echo Foods/Cacao Bliss:   www.earthechofoods.com/dougbopst   Use Promo code "Doug" at checkout to receive 15% off your order Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Advice You Need to Conquer Your Biggest Fears and Struggles!!!   Life has taught us it’s hard to suppress feelings of anxiety, apprehension and fear of the unknown. Undoubtedly, these emotions are what make us human, fallible, vulnerable. How we manage these 'so called' negative feelings and ultimately transform them into fuel for success is a skill worth mastering.    Which is why my guest today, Dr. Michael Gervais, a world-renowned high performance sports psychologist and industry visionary, is bringing to us the technique of developing a psychological framework that allows you thrive and succeed in pressure-packed environments.   In 2010, Gervais helped Austrian skydiver and BASE jumper, Felix Baumgardner complete an unimaginable, record-breaking free dive for Red Bull while Felix was struggling with claustrophobia and massive anxiety.   Dr. Gervais is the host of the popular Finding Mastery podcast that explores the psychology of some of the world’s most extraordinary thinkers and doers.   Gervais alongside Pete Carroll also co-authored an Audible Original, Compete to Create;  a brilliant guide to mastering groundbreaking mindset trainings which will help readers unlock their authentic self, explore the edges of their potentials, and live a life of purpose and meaning.   Today Dr. Gervais provides a masterclass on dealing with fear and anxiety and how to stop it in it’s tracks before it takes you down that dark scary rabbit hole many of us know all too well. We discuss how to bridge the gap between inspiration and action and how to train the mind so that you can respond to situations with logic and not emotion and so much more!    Stay tuned in today’s episode for an incredible course giveaway that Dr. Gervais is doing for our listeners.   Let's dive into the details of this insightful podcast   Dr. Michael Gervais' two types of Anxiety:   Cognitive Anxiety: This happens when you're ruminating about all the bad things that could go wrong and the excessive worry about later or what could happen and how we would respond. It's about trying to solve something that isn't yet happening. It is a massive asset to project forward based on everything you've ever experienced in life with an assessment of your internal capabilities matched up against what you think the future demand is going to be. That's cool and part of the prerequisite to enter into exploring your potential high performance living as well as the nuances of how you line up your thoughts, words and actions.   Clinical Anxiety: The second part of anxiety is that your heart doesn't quite beat at the same rhythm of being relaxed. Your state of breathing changes. There’s muscle tension, digestive disorder and even ulcers because the system is in an edgy kind of irritability soup. It feels like you're shoving 10 pounds of stuff into a five pound bag.   How do we avoid diving into the rabbit hole of fear and anxiety?   Being anxious is a normal human experience. The excessiveness of it is where it becomes problematic. Your train of thought should be able to take you to places that are free and open and deeply engaging. If you accidentally get on the wrong train and that train of thought has taken you somewhere kind of scary and dark, get off that train quickly. That's the practice!   However, if you find yourself on the wrong train and you want to get off, here's are pretty simple steps to take. Name the fear. Don't try to avoid it. Taking simple breaths sends signals to the ancient brain that the gorilla (trouble) has left Use your thoughts, come back to the now and guard your thoughts Look for opportunities to challenge your inner resolve.   This then brings us to the importance of knowing your purpose in the first place...   Dr. Michael Gervais on the importance of purpose:   Not understanding purpose is one of the reasons people stop halfway during training. Without purpose, it's really hard to do the hard work and what you and I are talking about (facing fears and anxiety) is hard work. Get clear on your purpose and if that feels daunting, be clear on your purpose for the end of the year or for the end of the week.   Dr. Michael Gervais on responding to situations based on logic not emotions:   It's so important to be self-aware and to also take action based on logic and not emotions. To achieve that, learn to do some stuff on your mental training so that you can respond eloquently in more stressful environment. Take breathing trainings, practice gratitude, use your imagination more often project your future, be where your body is and work on your physical carriage.   Dr. Gervais on bridging the gap between inspiration and action:   There are 3 basic components to taking action. There is the Social Component, the Psychological Component and the Behavioral Component   - The Social Component requires you getting a companion to achieve success. It could be a gym buddy, or someone committed to winning with you. - The Psychological Component demands that you get in touch with your humanity or suffering. That's the pain to create change. - The Behavioral Component getting connected with what you want to do and building a habit around it.   Never forget to celebrate when you record small wins or successes. Success isn't all about bank accounts or score boards. It's measured by how many times a day you can be alive to have a sense of awe. If you have a bunch of those moments, score boards will take care of themselves.   Failure is the unwillingness or inability to get on the edge and go for it while mastery is getting up to the nuances in the edge and exploring that!   Connect with Dr. Michael Gervais:    Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/michaelgervais/   Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/finding-mastery/id1025326955   Course: https://competetocreate.net/   Book: https://www.amazon.com/Compete-Create-Approach-Leading-Authentically/dp/B08911JMJX/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&qid=1609981789&refinements=p_27%3AMichael+Gervais&s=books&sr=1-2   Connect with Doug Instagram: www.instagram.com/dougbopst Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dougbopst Website: www.dougbopst.com/   Private Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/690686891674188   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Follow This Food Plan and Never Diet Again!!!   Happy New Year and welcome to the first episode of 2021 and super excited that Kelly LeVeque joins us on the show today!   One of the struggles of many people of this generation is choosing what diet they should be following. Most of them get stressed out just because of the strict diet they are into.   If you are one of them, this episode is for you! You will learn so much from here, and you will be enlightened that improving your health shouldn’t be that difficult.   My guest today is Kelly LeVeque --   is a holistic nutritionist, wellness expert, celebrity health coach, and the best-selling author of Body Love and Body Love Every Day and host of the Be Well by Kelly podcast.   Her deep desire to help her clients, her passion for human nutrition, and her curiosity about how and why the body works drive Kelly to diligently study the latest research, evaluate competing theories and use this information to make individualized recommendations for her clients. Some of her clients include Jessica Alba, Jennifer Garner, Chelsea Handler, Molly Sims, Emmy Rossum and many others.   Most importantly, Kelly’s practical and always optimistic approach to nutrition and wellness helps her readers improve their health, achieve their goals, and develop sustainable habits to live healthy and balanced lives.   Kelly’s website serves as a resource for her readers to find the latest research and rationale behind important nutrition principles, as well as delicious recipes and recommended products to fuel them well. In 2020, she launched the Be Well By Kelly Podcast to further provide listeners with her nutrition and wellness wisdom, and to introduce them to other health professionals with a wide array of experience and insights.   With the desire to provide her coaching expertise to the public, Kelly developed the Fab 4 Fundamentals course, in which she simplifies the science of nutrition and empowers participants to confidently take charge of their health. She has expanded her nutrition curriculum to include a second course, Fab 4 Pregnancy, to provide moms-to-be with the wisdom, encouragement, and thoroughly researched recommendations they need to nourish themselves before, during, and after pregnancy. Additionally, Kelly released the Be Well by Kelly Protein Powder to round out the Body Love toolkit. This protein powder harnesses the power and benefits of simple yet wholesome protein and can easily be used in one of Kelly’s favorite tools, the #fab4smoothie. Through all of these resources, Kelly seeks to provide men and women with the tools they need to transform their health and their lives through nourishing whole foods and body loving practices.   Kelly’s Backstory:   Kelly is the eldest among her siblings. Her father is an entrepreneur and was always teaching them to be able to fend for themselves. He is afraid of his daughters relying on him or someone else and he really wanted them to be independent.   Kelly went to USC and was an undergrad in business like her dad, then she took her science courses in her junior year -- nature of human health and disease and biology.   Fast forward, Kelly ended up in an eight year career in cancer, in genetics. She worked for big Fortune 500 companies like Johnson & Johnson, Whole Logic, and Stryker. She was always in cancer, the end of her career was really in the genetics of it.    She spent so much of those eight years reading PubMed research, and always went back to nutrition just was in love with it. Every year, she thinks to herself that she’s too old to go back to school, but her heart was always in nutrition and it was what she spent her time reading studies.   She decided to go back to school and took her job full time. Kelly was so thirsty for the knowledge and was really excited to share tools with people. And because it was her side hustle, she didn't have the pressure of earning money from it. She’s just having fun doing what she wants, but then it just kept growing and growing.   Topics discussed:   -The idea behind the Fab Four (protein, fat, fiber, greens) -Fab Four explained -Where did the whole “Body Love” thing come from? -Kelly’s thoughts about people stress themselves out so much about what they're going to eat -How was it for Kelly getting started in her own business and how did she end up coming across some of the amazing people she works with? -What it really takes on the stunning celebrities’ end to look the way they do. -Kelly’s courses, what they entail, and what people can expect to get out of them -The Fab Four and Fab Four Pregnancy -Kelly’s book, Body Love Everyday -Kelly’s Swedish Grass-Fed Beef Protein Powder -Kelly’s tips about what ingredients people should stay away from -Other supplements Kelly recommends her clients aside from the protein powder -The types of magnesium people should take and how it should be taken -Kelly’s advice to her younger self The Fab Four and Fab Four Pregnancy: The Fab Four fundamentals is like all of the science that Kelly shares in her books. And the Fab Four pregnancy is all about how she’s using the Fab Four throughout her pregnancy to maintain an appropriate amount of weight gain, which can be a really touchy subject for women when they're pregnant.   Takeaways:   -We need to get essential amino acids or proteins from our food, whether you're raw vegan or carnivore, you have to get amino acids from your food.   -When it comes to healthy fats, you have essential fatty acids as well, those are your omega.   -The microbiome is the first barrier of defense.   -It's not about perfection. It's literally about consistency. It's about habits. And it's about feeling good about yourself and confident about your food choices.   -Body love is action. It is taking time for self care.   -Celebration should be celebrating you and the people close to you, and really knowing who you are and what you want to celebrate in your life.   -If you can't get it together and you're feeling unmotivated, you need to find a trigger.   -The most important thing that you can do is start your day right.   -Don't think that you can't create an industry, a brand or a business in something that you don't see other people doing.   Connect with Kelly:   Website: https://kellyleveque.com/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bewellbykelly/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bewellbykelly/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPjFtjo841kVXoG9m-ONMxw Podcast: https://kellyleveque.com/be-well-by-kelly-podcast      Buy Kelly's books: https://www.amazon.com/Kelly-LeVeque/e/B072R3K2TG/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1   New Body Love Journal:    https://www.amazon.com/Body-Love-Journal-Kelly-LeVeque/dp/B002DM4I56   Connect with Doug Instagram: www.instagram.com/dougbopst Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dougbopst Website: www.dougbopst.com/   Private Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/690686891674188   More on Earth Echo Foods/Cacao Bliss:   www.earthechofoods.com/dougbopst   Use Promo code "Doug" at checkout to receive 15% off your order Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For this last week of 2020, each day we will be re-release one of the most popular episodes of the past year. We will resume our regular schedule with a new episode on 1/4/2021. Have a Happy Holiday and Happy New Year!   Best of 2020 #1: Dr. Will Bulsiewicz - All About the Gut Microbiome and How to Strengthen Your Immune System Right Now (Originally released 12/14/20)   All About the Gut Microbiome and How to Strengthen Your Immune System Right Now!   Today, we are going to talk all about the gut microbiome and how to strengthen your immune system right now. Clearly, with everything going on with COVID-19, this episode couldn’t come at a better time. I’ve had the opportunity to talk to one of the best there is on this topic.    Today's guest is Dr. Will Bulsiewicz, commonly known as Dr. B. He is an award-winning gastroenterologist and the author of the New York Times bestselling book, Fiber Fueled.   Many might not know this, but our gut is connected to almost every part of our body including our brain. Did you know that 90% of our serotonin and 50 % of our dopamine is produced in our gut?   So sometimes when we feel stressed, anxious, and depressed, this all might be tied directly to having an unhealthy gut.   It’s incredibly fascinating as is the fact that 70% of our immune system is in our gut as well.   This is why we should really be paying attention to our gut health more than ever as COVID-19 impacts so many people with underlying health issues and weaker immune systems.   In this episode, Dr. B will explain everything you need to know about the gut microbiome, how our gut health impacts things such as COVID-19, our immune system, and mental health. He will also explain the secret to how you can discover how healthy your gut is in the comfort of your and his tip for this will cost you absolutely nothing other than some time.   Finally, he will also provide the blueprint of what you can do right now to optimize your gut health and strengthen your immune system plus so much more.   Dr. B’s Backstory:   Dr. B already knew when he was a teenager that he wanted to be a doctor. He’s always been an idealist, and what he really wanted to do was to help kids, particularly the adolescent and teenage kids, because he feels like they're overlooked and they deserve more attention in this transformative period in their life. So he initially set on a path to go to medical school so that he could become a child psychiatrist.   During Dr. B’s journey to become a doctor, he suddenly fell in love with gastroenterology. At the age of 30, everything went well for his career. He was the chief medical resident at Northwestern in Chicago, one of the top internal medicine residency in the country. He won the highest award in his residency class and published eight papers in gastroenterology journals.   Of all those achievements, he still felt miserable. He hated himself. And that’s when he realized that it’s all about the diet that he was raised, which was the very classic “1980s diet” -- hotdogs, Doritos, Kool Aid, bagel bites. He gained 50 pounds, had low energy, super low self-esteem and high blood pressure.   He did some exercise like what most guys do, but everything changed when he started dating his wife who’s on a very clean diet. Out of curiosity, he followed that thread and started making small changes.   He noticed that he instantly felt better. He didn't have the hangover after meals, he was energized, his skin started to change, and his hair got thicker. His weight also started falling of as well.   Those changes inspired him so much that he became obsessed with digging into the medical literature. He became a believer because of the way that it transformed his own life. He felt that his patients deserved it too. So he brought that into his clinic, and saw similar amazing and transformative results with them.   In 2016, he just felt compelled to share the story, but also felt that it wasn’t enough. That’s the reason why he created his Instagram account. He didn’t expect so much in the beginning, so when he reached 1,000 followers, Dr. B and his wife celebrated and popped a bottle of champagne.   Fast forward, his book called “Fiber Fueled” came out in May this year, and it's a New York Times bestseller. Today, they're closing in on 100,000 copies and it’s only a little over six months since the book came out.   Now that you already know Dr. B’s backstory, take a look at these very interesting topics and lessons we discussed:   The meaning of the gut microbiome   Why stress and the gut microbiome go hand in hand with each other   The different ways our gut can communicate with our brain   The antagonistic pleiotropy   The connection between gut microbiome and COVID-19   Things that people can do to strengthen their gut and immune system   The special connection between our gut microbes and fiber   Why do people need to pay attention to where they're getting the fiber from   The importance of the diversity of plants in your diet   Bonus: smoothie recipe of Dr. B’s wife   The Bristol Stool Chart   The different types of bowel movement   The effect on trauma in the gut   How Dr. B and his team help the patients who were victims of trauma and abuse   Inflammation in the gut Fiber Fueled by Dr. B:   “Fiber Fueled is so much more than a health book. It’s a step-by-step methodology to stop the misinformation madness caused by the diet industry, and show you the simple, science-backed process for a lifestyle that is effortless, sustainable, and above all else, it transforms your health by optimizing your gut microbiome.” Takeaways:   Microbes are not just passively in the human body. They are there with a purpose. They have been there since the beginning of human history.    There's never been a sterile human, we've always had a relationship with these microbes.   The healthy microbiomes give us access to our nutrients. are connected to our immune system. are connected to our metabolism. are connected to our hormones. are connected to our brain.   A healthy gut is the path to a healthy brain, including our mood.   Our bowel movement is actually predominantly made up of your gut microbes.   Plant Diversity in your diet Is king when it comes to having a healthy gut. Simple ways are through smoothies and salads.   Connect with Dr. Will Bulsiewicz:   Website: https://theplantfedgut.com/   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theguthealthmd/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theguthealthmd   Get Dr. B's book Fiber Fueled here:   https://amzn.to/37VHhi6   Sign up for Dr. B's Course here:   https://theplantfedgut.com/course/   Connect with Doug   Instagram: @dougbopst   Facebook: Doug Bopst   Private Facebook Group:   https://www.facebook.com/groups/690686891674188   Website: www.dougbopst.com/gift   More on Soul CBD Gummies:   Click the link below and enter the code "Doug" at checkout to receive 15% off Soul CBD Gummies!    www.mysoulcbd.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For this last week of 2020, each day we will re-release one of the most popular episodes of the past year. We will resume our regular schedule with a new episode on 1/4/2021. Have a Happy Holiday and Happy New Year!   Best of 2020 #2: David Sinclair - Modifying Our Lifestyle to Reverse Aging (Originally released 6/9/2020)   Dr. David Sinclair: Modifying Our Lifestyle to Reverse Aging    Today I’m incredibly honored to host Dr. David Sinclair.  David is a professor in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School. He’s the author of New York’s Times best-seller Lifespan, a book with insights on why we age, and how we can slow and even reverse aging. A top innovator, David was in 2014, named on Time Magazine’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, and listed as Time's Top 50 in healthcare in 2018. David’s inspiration growing up David grew up with his grandmother, who was a constant believer in his abilities and always motivated him to set and shoot for his life-goals and he will always achieve them.  In an unfair world filled with cruel and mischievous people, David’s grandmother always reminded him to be grateful and generous where he could. To always do whatever he can to make the world a better place than it is. David owes a lot of current success and grit to this background and claims that every no one needs a positive environment of someone who believes in them, and they too can set to achieve greatness. Hormesis: Using exercise and healthy eating to fight aging. Being a trained geneticist, you’d think that David would vouch for DNA as the major contributing factor for your health and wellness destiny. But oh no, the key to this, David says is the epigenome  The epigenome is the real powerhouse and determinant of our lifestyle i.e how much we sleep, mental stress, physical fitness etc.  A study on identical twins held in Denmark supports this claim, with the findings suggesting that we only inherit from our parents 20% in terms of the predictability of our long-term health.   The key to better physical and mental health and ultimately slow aging, David states, is through exercise and healthy eating.  As for exercise - do anything that gets your breathing level up for at least 15 minutes Exercising triggers the longevity genes which regulate the epigenome - which is in control of how we age. Healthy eating also triggers the epigenome, resulting in similar effects.    Healthy eating and numerous benefits of fasting.  It’s no surprise that what we eat is a big contributor of how our health turns out to be. However, what always seems to be left out, is how to eat.   Having 3 meals a day and zero exercise has a reverse effect on your mind.Your brain loves being relaxed - just sitting down and having snacks is all you need -  By giving in to this kind of lifestyle, you’re sacrificing your body’s ability to fight diseases and aging. Because your body gets the message from the brain that it’s very safe and there’s plenty of security and food to eat. So you relax, and the defense modes switch off. It’s for this reason that obese people who don’t exercise, not only look older, but are actually older.    Fasting triggers the longevity genes as well. Through fasting, the body is tricked into thinking there isn’t enough resources to live on. Amino acids are also restricted and the epigenome is activated too.   Types of foods David suggests you should take when fasting. You don’t want foods with a lot of sugar - as they make you get hungry faster Don’t be too rough on yourself - one milkshake isn’t bad (as long as you’re consistent) Best meal for him is a salad with a bit of olive oil on it or vinegar Protein is good in small amounts.  Green leafy vegetables and practice Hormesis i.e If your plants are stressed before you eat them you get the benefit. So you don’t have to do it yourself. You can eat plants; That have grown without much rain or water in the environment. With bugs on them   Dr. David Sinclair’s Adversity - Growing from the failures and setbacks he’s been through   There’s no way to be successful without massive amounts of adversity, criticisms, failures and mistakes, claims David. We don’t have all the answers, and aren’t perfect either.   Failure is part of the journey. And as David shares his lowest point in life, he certainly owes a lot of his current progress and success as a result of embracing and his setbacks and learning from them. David saw his mom die in front of him, which was of course, a big blow to him, both emotionally and psychologically. But it’s the career setback he really digs into and narrates on the show. Close to the tip of being sacked and losing his reputation (which for scientists is everything) A 41 year old David was completely battered, beaten and destroyed.   When he was 34 years old, David and his team had just uncovered a huge biological milestone through a breakthrough which seemed too easy and good to be true. And so they patented it. 7 years down the line. David would face so much criticism from journalists and scientists, all of whom claimed that everything he had published on his breakthrough was false. And so the company that he had invested so much in, and received millions of dollars in donations for clinical trials was a hoodwink and based on lies.   About half of David’s lab staff abandoned him, deeming his career over. All David could wonder was how it could all go soo wrong. How could it be that the very world he was trying to save, is now punching him in the face? There was nothing more to do. So he went to bed every night sad and depressed.  As time went by though, David decided not to quit. He decided he would put on a fight and prove all his doubters and critics wrong with proof and data. 3 years later, and with the help of the loyal staff that remained, David solved the problem that had resulted in so many individuals misunderstanding and attacking his professional achievements.  Having published his findings in 2013, this put Dr. David and his team back on track into achieving the great  things they had set out to when they started.   Don’t quit mentality Now 50, David knows that it never gets easier and the setbacks never stop. But for him, winners are the ones who decide to get back up as fast as possible and handle all the blocks and obstacles that are a normal part of life. Even till date, David still faces criticisms and hindrances from his colleagues, donors, newspaper and, and university. But now older, that he was, he’s wise enough to know that the challenges never get easier or end, you only get better and tougher.   David’s thinking pattern is that humanity is in all these together. We’re all trying to work out and solve life’s big problems and challenges. And, so we must work together. This line of thought  has landed him into bad relationships with many scientists who try to remain as secretive as possible in matters regarding their research and findings.    In conclusion, David advises us to always have goals in our lives. When you’re low and in depression, and still lacking in goals, dreams and aspirations to look forward to. Then life hits you even harder. So set a goal, go for it, and don’t stop or give up on it until you get there!   Connect with Dr. David Sinclair  Website - https://lifespanbook.com/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/davidasinclair LinkedIn -  https://www.linkedin.com/in/sinclairda/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/davidsinclairphd/?hl=en Lifespan on Amazon - https://amzn.to/2BFribo Connect with Doug Instagram: @dougbopst Facebook: Doug Bopst Website: www.dougbopst.com/gift More on Earth Echo Foods/Cacao Bliss: www.earthechofoods.com/dougbopst Use Promo code "Doug" at checkout to receive 15% off your order     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For this last week of 2020, each day we will re-release one of the most popular episodes of the past year. We will resume our regular schedule with a new episode on 1/4/2021. Have a Happy Holiday and Happy New Year!   Best of 2020 #3: Dr. Andrew Huberman - The Surprising Truth About Stress (And How it Can Actually Be Healthy) (Originally released 8/18/20)   Dr. Andrew Huberman: The Surprising Truth About Stress (And How it Can Actually Be Healthy)    THIS EPISODE WILL BLOW YOUR MIND!   Do you want to know the surprising truth about stress and how it actually can benefit your health?   Then, you will not want to miss today's episode with neuroscientist, Dr. Andrew Huberman where we cover addiction, stress, cell phones (as he calls it digital concussion) and his incredible story.    Andrew Huberman, Ph.D., is a neuroscientist and tenured Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He has made numerous important contributions to the fields of brain development, brain function and neural plasticity, which is the ability of our nervous system to rewire and learn new behaviors, skills and cognitive functioning.    Huberman is a McKnight Foundation and Pew Foundation Fellow and was awarded the Cogan Award in 2017, which is given to the scientist making the largest discoveries in the study of vision. His lab’s most recent work focuses on the influence of vision and respiration on human performance and brain states such as fear and courage. He also works on neural regeneration and directs a clinical trial to promote visual restoration in diseases that cause blindness. Huberman is also actively involved in developing tools now in use by elite military in the US and Canada, athletes, and technology industries for optimizing performance in high stress environments, enhancing neural plasticity, mitigating stress, and optimizing sleep.    Work from the Huberman Laboratory at Stanford Medical School has been published in top journals including Nature, Science, and Cell and has been featured in TIME, BBC, Scientific American, Discover, and other top media outlets.   Andrew’s Journey   Andrew had a great start to his life.  His mother wrote children’s books and his father was a theoretical physicist. Everything in Andrew’s life was going very well, until he turned 13 and his parents separated. When his dad left, Andrew’s mother began to experience stress.    At about the same time that Andrew’s parents separated, his older sister had just left for college. This left him to face life’s obstacles all alone, and reality took a sudden turn for Andrew.   With everything changing so fast in Andrew’s life, he turned to skateboarding as a way to handle and relieve the stress.    It was while skateboarding in Embarcadero, San Francisco that Andrew started to meet new friends, most of whom were growing up without much parental control or influence.  This is when Andrew began to recognize that kids growing up without two parent families, lived lives that were more chaotic than other kids with more normal home lives. As Andrew entered puberty, he started skipping school, and from the ages of 14-17, most of his time was spent either skateboarding or with his girlfriend.    As time went by, Andrew also turned to boxing as another tool to handle his stress.   Andrew was ultimately kicked out of school because of the constant troubles that accompanied his presence. He was offered a chance to resume his studies under the condition of going to therapy.    The therapist was of great help, demonstrating to Andrew that there was a better way for him to structure his life. By adding certain types of life tools and structure to his life, Andrew learned that he could achieve the life he was craving internally without relying solely on fighting, boxing and skateboarding.    Once Andrew returned to school he started to play football, where his football coach advised Andrew to start running and lifting weights as a way to build his frail body.    Always curious and self-driven, Andrew began to lift weights. He fell in love with the body that he was crafting through his new hobby. His great physique ultimately pushed him into being a firefighter as a way to make a living.   With his girlfriend moving to college, Andrew would sleep outside of her dorm in the parking lot as a way to stay close with the most intimate friend he had.   Slowly, his old habits of fighting started to re-enter his life. On July 4th 1994, after getting into a fight in the small town of Isla Vista, Andrew found himself considering the direction in which his life was headed. Walking back home from the fight, Andrew decided to change his life for the better permanently. He started by enrolling in a local community college and dedicated himself to achieving excellence in weight lifting, running, reading and studying.    What followed was a metamorphosis into an organized and self-driven individual.    While at the community college, Andrew started taking Psycho-Biology (now known as Neuroscience) and found himself connecting with his charismatic professor, who ultimately acted as a mentor in his educational endeavors. Andrew was self-driven, highly motivated, and made it his life mission to get a PhD in the field of Neuroscience. He achieved his goal, which is a feat that has contributed greatly to his current success.   Addictions Andrew describes the term addiction as a progressive narrowing of the things that bring you pleasure.    Addictions start and end with the brain chemical dopamine. Whatever we are addicted to overtakes the dopamine circuits and becomes the single most powerful stimulus in our lives.   Dopamine is designed to motivate us and Human beings have evolved as a result of it.   Think about dopamine as a jet engine that propels us towards a certain direction. And when we get to this destination, we get replenished with more dopamine.   Dopamine reinforces the actions that lead to your satisfaction. It's more of a thrill when you want to get what you’re addicted to than actually taking the drug itself.   Therefore, a lot of our daily actions are as a result of dopamine release in the brain. So, it is irrefutable that we need dopamine. The only question is, by what means are you going to get it?   Is it through healthy thoughts and activities that build your life? Or is it through an alternative path that will destroy a person?   Oxytocin and serotonin are the other reward systems in our brain.   They have an effect of making us blissful and feeling a desire to remain still. Examples of times these chemicals are released is when we eat a good meal or after sex.    The addiction to phones.  From Andrew’s definition of what an addiction is, cell phones can definitely be classified as addictive.   Phones have the ability to take a significant amount of people's time and impede upon their ability to experience pleasure with other things.    Industries in the phone industry know this and curated what you see towards satisfying all of your specific needs. Phones now know people better than people know themselves at times. They understand all of a person’s cravings and habits. The more time that an individual spends on a phone, the more that person can exhaust neural circuits and the capacity to focus.  Also, when someone is trying to be creative (writing, podcasting etc.), spending significant time on a phone can make it harder to concentrate for long periods of time.   Learning to be calm The key to leading a happy life is learning to anchor your thinking and maintain control even when you are faced with a lot of problems. Trauma at a young age is a test that many young adults experience, and at the time of the trauma many young people fail to handle it in healthy ways. This is one reason why so many young people turn to drugs as a way to either numb the pain or calm their minds to focus. The good news is, we can learn to cope with stress because the neural circuits that allow us to maintain a clear mind when we’re flooded with adrenaline can be modified by experience.    If you practice how to handle stress on a consistent basis, when someone encounters real life stress, one can learn how to open up your gaze, take a second or two to analyze the situation, and finally react in the right manner.    Being too relaxed is actually the reason why so many people relapse into old habits. Your brain cannot differentiate between the dopamine being released as a result of a good thing such as a job promotion and drug abuse. So, people need to learn to embrace stress because it can be there to help you grow.    Tools to handle stress and anxiety We can re-shape and adapt better to how we react to stressful situations through employing various tools.   These tools help us develop a bulletproof mindset in relation to how we handle problems as they arise.   With enough practice, you develop a higher level of understanding and control over your nervous system. Respiration - Breathing in twice through your nose and breathing out once through your mouth. Vision - Dilating your gaze and seeing as much of the room as you can. Then try to see yourself in that room. Stressful environments - E.g. taking a cold shower or 25-50 quick deep breaths.   Connect with Andrew Website - http://www.hubermanlab.com/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/hubermanlab/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/hubermanlab   Connect with Doug Instagram: @dougbopst Facebook: Doug Bopst Website: www.dougbopst.com/gift   More on Earth Echo Foods/Cacao Bliss: www.earthechofoods.com/dougbopst Use Promo code "Doug" at checkout to receive 15% off your order   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For this last week of 2020, each day we will re-release one of the most popular episodes of the past year. We will resume our regular schedule with a new episode on 1/4/2021. Have a Happy Holiday and Happy New Year!   Best of 2020 #4: Rich Roll - Take Small Steps to Change Your Life (Originally released 11/09/20)   Are you are someone who is in pain, stuck in a "rut," struggling with fear or uncertainty?   Congratulations, you are in the right place.  Today's guest says that you MUST use your pain as a motivator to take the small steps to change your life.   Today is a special treat. I have been tracking down this guy to get this interview for quite some time and after hearing who it is you will understand why. Many of you will recognize today's guest from his highly acclaimed podcast. Some of you have may have read his books or just heard of his incredible accomplishments online.   He hosts one of the most popular podcasts out there and his show was the first major podcast to feature my story.  I am so blessed that the tables have turned and I’m now able to pay it forward and have him as a guest on my podcast.   He is also one of the fittest humans alive. Just to give you an idea he completed 5 ironman distance triathlons on 5 different islands of Hawaii in less than a week. He is also a recovery warrior, having over 20 years of sobriety.  Today we get into some parts of his journey that you may not be familiar with.   I am very excited that Rich Roll joins me on the show today. Rich is the host of the highly popular, Rich Roll podcast. His memoir "Finding Ultra: Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World’s Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself” was a best seller.  His newest book "Voicing Change" is available for sale tomorrow and will undoubtedly be equally successful.   In addition to being a podcast host and author, he is also a plant based nutrition advocate and ultra endurance athlete.  He is a beacon of light to people worldwide as an inspiring  example of transformation, courage and healthy living. He is the epitome of using Adversity to his Advantage!   “Change is not only possible, it's freely available to you.” -Rich Roll   Get ready to have your mind blown by the incredible wisdom and inspiration he's gained from his personal and professional experiences.   We chat about the following topics and so much more:   Rich’s effective way of dealing with anything he’s struggling with   Why surrendering and letting go of what you can't control is so important to get yourself out of a hole   How staying connected to people that inspire you is helpful for your recovery   How can someone go from being in such a fear-based mindset to living more with faith   Developing such incredible conversational skills despite being shy in younger years is possible   Why is it so important to play the long game when it comes to trying to achieve your goals   How Rich uses his podcast as a healthy outlet and a major act of service   The steps you can take for someone who's struggling   Some of the biggest actions Rich personally takes that gets  his mood up   Rich’s advice for someone who wants to change the way they talk to themselves and create lasting change in their life:   "Change is not only possible, it's freely available." -Rich Roll   He shares that it starts with taking one very small action and building off of that. It's not going to happen overnight.   "If you are in pain, congratulations, that's the best place to start. Use that pain as a motivator, as a lever to actually get you up off the couch. Whether that's literal or figurative and start to manifest in very small nuggets, the life that you would like to lead." -Rich Roll   He talks about beginning with very basic actions. It could just start with simple steps such as writing down the things you are struggling with in your life and jotting down the things you want to give more attention to. Another "first step" example can be putting your shoes on to go for a walk because you have aspirations to run a marathon.    "It's not about quitting your job overnight and making some broad dramatic statement. It really is about these tiny things that you commit yourself to." -Rich Roll   Rich shares that If you are having trouble staying committed or on track, find an accountability partner that you can trust.   "Ask yourself, how committed are you to change and are you willing to take some uncomfortable actions in order to shift your reality?" -Rich Roll   Rich’s Latest Book: Voicing Change   It's an aesthetic compilation of wisdom that showcases many of the life changing conversations between Rich and many of his guests.   The inspiration for this book is really a desire to canonize some of the wisdom and inspiration that Rich received as a result of hosting his podcast.   It's also a way of honoring the many guests that he had on the show, and also honoring the audience.   He wanted to do it in an aesthetically pleasing way. Which is why they decided to go with a coffee table book format.   Get the book here:   richroll.com/vc   Connect with Rich:   Website: richroll.com   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/richroll/    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/richrollfans   Twitter: https://twitter.com/richroll   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/richroll     Rich’s Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rich-roll-podcast/id582272991   https://open.spotify.com/show/2TGszFKJEbQuEXrWduK63l?si=ojo6Qb6dSWCjvWvnSOAIeg   Connect with Doug   Website: www.dougbopst.com/   Instagram: @dougbopst   Facebook: Doug Bopst   Private Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/690686891674188   Website: www.dougbopst.com/   More on Earth Echo Foods/Cacao Bliss:   www.earthechofoods.com/dougbopst   Use Promo code "Doug" at checkout to receive 15% off your order       Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For this last week of 2020, each day we will re-release one of the most popular episodes of the past year. We will resume our regular schedule with a new episode on 1/4/2021. Have a Happy Holiday and Happy New Year!   Best of 2020 #5: Shaman Durek - Transforming Your Life Through Spiritual Hacking (Originally released 7/6/2020)   Are you ready to completely change your perceptions on reality and experience change like never before?  If so, then I’ve got two words for you Shaman Durek.    In hands down one of the most soul stirring interviews I’ve ever had, stay tuned into the show and be a part of an uplifting biohacking experience that is certain to change your views on everything you know and believe in.   About Shaman Durek Although he was destined to be a Shaman because of his lineage. Durek had at one point in his life completely pushed the thought of becoming a Shaman away.  Durek then went on a walkabout and chose otherwise, thus becoming the shaman he is today.  Descendent from the West African country of Ghana. Durek’s ancestors were the village medicine people.  As a result of slave trade and colonialism. Durek’s ancestors ended up practicing Lukumi (The merging of African shamanism and modern Catholicism) The merge has had its challenges since the two (African Shamanism and Catholicism) really contradict each other.  Durek for example has always had a view of Shamanism as freedom, liberation, acknowledgment and relationship with everything around you.  On the other hand, Durek views religion as a clause. With consequences as a result of the choices you make.  Growing up and going to school in America was always tough for Durek. Sharing his experience of seeing, feeling and talking to spirits had other kids label him as crazy or evil.  It’s thus been a long journey of trying to incorporate shamanism into the mainstream for him.   The principles of Shamanism You as a human being, already have higher consciousness within you. The only problem is that you haven’t aligned your synapsis and neurological system in order to input the frequencies and codes in your body.  Distractions and inflammations from the environment you are subjected in, is what’s preventing this alignment from happening.    Shamanism is about enhancement and elevation.  To accomplish this, you first need to closely observe your reality and remove the resistance and constrictions that are stopping you from being fully optimized.  These constrictions are belief systems are as a result of what you’ve been taught to understand about yourself and the world you live in. They press against you and prevent your freedom.  Constrictions include; fears, doubts, shame, guilt, worry, insecurities etc   Once you face these constrictions, you’ll be able to operate in autonomy. Your happiness and freedom will no longer be tied down to other people or activities.  Because you are the source of everything you experience.   Blackout.  This is a time when magnetic energy frequencies begin to lift the sediment of things that you have hidden away from your consciousness and society.  A blackout experience is an opportunity to figure out how to stop reacting to everything, and instead, pull deeper into love, acceptance and understanding.    Everything we achieve in life is based on getting acknowledged, noticed, heard, seen, appreciated, valued etc. The black out experience is about learning to break out from this culture.  Instead of hustling and operating under the fear of lacking something, and motivation to get somewhere, you should instead, see yourself as aligned and magnetically drawing everything you need towards you.    The trajectory for success is through cooperation, communication, engagement and authenticity.   If you can apply these principles, then you will be able to come out on the other side as a success.     Why don’t people embrace the Blackout experience then? Because we are naturally designed to be safe.  We are all egocentric control freaks as a result of the system we’ve been programmed to live in.  The key to breaking free is enhancing your spiritual immunity instead of safety.    The Law of Duality  There’s different polarities that are present in our planet.  These polarities are acknowledged by a certain group of people or by an individual more than in other groups or individuals.  We have all, as result, created a very dualistic way of viewing life. Duality has become a tool to understand reality, which of course, is all wrong.  For example, the idea of what’s right or wrong is different in every society, subjective to their belief systems and environment.  Because of this duality, we are stuck in the past and forget that we are changing.  The reality of consciousness isn’t anything that’s dual or solid, rather it’s something that is fluid and transformable. Because the system is ever changing and evolving. Once you accept this reality, then you can be synergetic. You will be liberated from all the attachments, labels, ideas and conditions that have been forced on you subconsciously.    We live in an illogical world.  Your brain operates on frequencies and energy.  If we lived in a logical world, then you would be given the ability to be loved unconditionally, truly express yourself as things happen in your life and maintain your biological system in a functional way.  But because we don’t. Then you do neither of these things.    Being logical means that you know you are free to communicate and operate in intelligence that gives you input, responding to what you want to express.    But because we live in an illogical world, you cannot do all of the above.  So your brain finds a way to compensate for the lack of logic in your environment. It then functions based on protecting you and helping you get what you want.  To be free, means you are possibility driven and open to all ideas.  A wise person is one who can see and consider the diverse options that are at his disposal.   Connect with Shaman Durek  Website - https://shamandurek.com/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ShamanDurek Twitter - https://twitter.com/ShamanDurek Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/shamandurek/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCvuqLo-Lk6iCp4Q6inOb5Q Amazon - https://amzn.to/2VVZVRU   Connect with Doug Instagram: @dougbopst Facebook: Doug Bopst Website: www.dougbopst.com/gift   More on Earth Echo Foods/Cacao Bliss: www.earthechofoods.com/dougbopst Use Promo code "Doug" at checkout to receive 15% off your order   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For this last week of 2020, each day we will be re-release one of the most popular episodes of the past year. We will resume our regular schedule with a new episode on 1/4/2021. Have a Happy Holiday and Happy New Year!   Best of 2020 #6: Lori Gottlieb - How to Improve Your Mental Health Right Now (Originally released 9/28/20)   COVID-19 challenged not only the physical strength of those who suffered from it, but also the mental health of many people suffering from depression due to lack of social connections and interactions.   Are you one of those who feel so lonely during this pandemic? Do you question yourself why you always feel like something’s wrong with you? Then you must hear what my guest says about these.   My guest today is none other than Lori Gottlieb. She is a psychotherapist and a writer. She is the author of the book “Maybe You Should Talk To Someone” and writes the weekly “Dear Therapist” advice column for The Atlantic.   A quick overview about how Lori became a therapist: Lori started working in the entertainment business because she loved stories and the human condition. So whether that was through film and labor through television, she really felt like the reason that people watch those shows and the reason that they make people laugh or cry is because the stories are about being human.    And then she worked in a real ER, where she spent a lot of time, because they used that to do research. And their consultant on the show, who was an ER physician said, “You know, I think you'd like it better here than you might in your day job.”   Being skeptical at first, Lori still ended up going up to Stanford for medical school. And when she got there, managed care was just coming into play. And she realized that she wasn't going to be able to really spend time with her patients in the way that she wanted to. So she started writing, in a way to help people to tell their stories.   Then she left medical school to become a journalist. And after working as a journalist, she had a baby. And she felt really disconnected from other adults during the day, because she loved her child. And for sure, new parents can relate to that feeling -- the need to connect with other people who can speak.   So she called up the dean at Stanford Medical School, and said she maybe needs to come back and do psychiatry. And the dean said, “You're welcome to come back. But you'd be doing mostly medication management. And you really want those longer term, deeper connections. So why don't you get a graduate degree in clinical psychology, and then you could do the kind of work that you've always talked about doing.”   So that's what Lori did. And she feels like she went from telling people stories as a journalist, to helping people to change their stories, as a therapist.    Right now, she still does both. She writes books, she has a weekly column, she has a podcast, and she has a clinical practice. And everything she does is all about a story in the human condition. What does isolation do to people's mental health? As humans, we want to be connected to other people. And even in pre COVID times, Lori thinks that there was a sort of epidemic of loneliness happening because she sees it with her patients.   A lot of the times what happens is we’re kind of distracted by all of these things that are not nourishing to us. And we don't realize how disconnected we are.    People feel anxious, sad, angry, having difficulty in relationships, and having insomnia or addiction. Whatever is happening, people are looking for something else to fill the hole of what really needs to be where connection would go.    So during this time, people are really struggling, because they didn't have a lot of practice. And they didn't cultivate those connections.    And now, the silver lining to this pandemic is that people are really saying, “Wait a minute, I need to prioritize the connections in my life, and I need to prioritize the connections that matter.”   Idiot Compassion vs. Wise Compassion Idiot compassion is what we do with our friends. Our friends will tell us a story, and then we'll say, “Yeah, you were right. They were wrong. That's terrible.” which just reinforces our very narrow view of a particular situation.   Wise compassion is what people can get in therapy. We hold up a mirror to someone, and help them to see something about themselves that maybe they haven't been willing or able to do before.   Productive Anxiety vs. Unproductive Anxiety Productive Anxiety is when you are reasonably worried about something and it's productive, because it makes you take action to protect yourself. And so we are reasonably worried about getting COVID, so we are wearing masks, we are socially distancing and doing other things that we need to do to take care of our physical immune systems.   Unproductive Anxiety is an obsessive rumination. It's like the distraction from doing something productive. You're just ruminating about something and it might not even be about COVID. It might be about that thing that your partner said to you that you can't get over with. You're like, “I can't believe they said that” and you won't let it go.   Being Envious Envy is sometimes really useful, because it tells you what you want. When you feel envy, it's because somebody else has something that you want in your life, too. Tune into this episode to be able to know the answers to your questions, and understand why you feel that way about yourself during the pandemic.   Lori Gottlieb is so amazing, and she can surely enlighten anyone who hears her speak about human conditions and how to effectively deal with it.   Connect with Lori:    Website: https://lorigottlieb.com/    Twitter: https://twitter.com/LoriGottlieb1   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GottliebLori/   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lorigottlieb_author/    Connect with Doug Instagram: @dougbopst Facebook: Doug Bopst Website: www.dougbopst.com/gift   More on Earth Echo Foods/Cacao Bliss:   www.earthechofoods.com/dougbopst   Use Promo code "Doug" at checkout to receive 15% off your order Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices