Flourish FM

Episode #55: The Art and Science of Connection and Social Health, with Kasley Killam

Kasley Killam, MPH, is the author of The Art and Science of Connection: Why Social Health is the Missing Key to Living Longer, Healthier, and Happier (HarperCollins, June 2024). She is a Harvard-trained social scientist, award-winning innovator, and is internationally recognized as a leading expert in “social health”: the dimension of well-being that stems from relationships. 
Kasley champions social health as a strategic advisor, keynote speaker, and founder of Social Health Labs, a national nonprofit that empowers community builders. Drawing from over a decade of studying, sharing, and applying the science of human connection, her expertise has been featured in major outlets including the New York Times, Scientific American, and Washington Post, and she pens the Social Health Blog for Psychology Today.
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Timestamps:
02:12 - Defining Social Health04:02 - The Temple Analogy for Social Health06:07 - The Importance of Connection for Longevity00:10:01 - Assessing Social Health as a Positive Indicator00:13:13 - Characteristics of Social Health00:15:28 - Diverse Ties and Their Importance00:19:12 - The Role of Casual Interactions00:21:45 - Framework for Assessing Social Health00:25:52 - Strategies for Strengthening Social Muscles00:27:08 - Making Social Health a Priority00:30:37 - Connection Preferences and Styles00:35:02 - Blending Connection Styles00:37:15 - Loneliness and Its Impact on Health00:41:29 - Recognizing and Addressing Loneliness00:44:13 - Localized Types of Loneliness00:46:45 - Positive Psychology Approach to Social Health00:47:48 - One Action to Improve Social Health

Episode #54: Strategies for Real World Enlightenment, with Susan Kaiser Greenland

Susan Kaiser Greenland is a mindfulness educator and bestselling author, who teaches mindfulness to children, teens, parents, and educators for everyday practices. She is a former corporate attorney, but transformed her career after discovering meditation, founding Inner Kids to teach secular mindfulness in schools and community programs. She has been studying Buddhism for over 30 years. She has authored several widely translated books, including her latest release in July 2024, Real-World Enlightenment: Discovering Ordinary Magic in Everyday Life. The book offers 50 powerful tools for modern seekers, providing practical strategies to foster meaningful connections and alleviate the pressures of modern life.
Susan is a respected speaker and mentor, whose insights draw from global wisdom traditions and scientific research, aiming to foster meaningful connections and well-being in everyday life. Her work has been featured in publications such as the New York Times, Washington Post and CNN, and she speaks globally on mindfulness and its benefits. 
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Latest book: Real-World Enlightenment: Discovering Ordinary Magic in Everyday Life (2024)
Timestamps:
00:02:38 - Defining Real World Enlightenment00:05:04 - Real World Enlightenment in Unpleasant Experiences00:08:13 - Wonder, Awe, and Ambiguous Experiences00:10:13 - Demystifying Traditional Enlightenment00:12:00 - Examples of Real World Enlightenment00:15:00 - Seeking vs. Allowing Enlightenment Experiences00:19:19 - Grasping vs. Experiencing Non-Conceptual Moments00:24:10 - Process Over Outcome in Meditation00:27:35 - Indications of Real World Enlightenment00:29:02 - Shifts in Perspective and Experience00:30:08 - Meditation and Modern Relevance00:35:02 - Sequential Process of Awareness and Self-Regulation00:38:08 - Golden Threads in Wisdom Traditions00:41:06 - Leading a Meaningful Life Through Golden Threads00:43:08 - Small Daily Actions for Transformation00:45:42 - Practical Advice for Adults and Children00:49:48 - Where to Find Susan Kaiser Greenland

Episode #53: Positive Leadership: How to Lead Well by Doing Good, with Dr. Craig Dowden

Dr. Craig Dowden is a bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and executive coach born and raised in Newfoundland. He is celebrated for his expertise in bridging the gap between the science and practice of leadership excellence, and has spent over 25 years exploring the connections between leadership theory and application.
Craig’s career spans academia, keynote speaking, and executive coaching, where he currently coaches leaders across the private, public, and non-profit sectors. Craig has a Ph.D. in Psychology and Business and was a Professor at Carleton University, where he was nominated twice for the Capital Educators Award. He is a prolific contributor to top publications like Forbes, CEOWORLD, Psychology Today, and the Huffington Post, and has been featured on various TV, radio, and podcast platforms. His accolades include being named in the Ottawa Business Journal “Top 40 Under 40” list in 2009.
Craig has authored two bestselling books: Do Good To Lead Well: The Science and Practice of Positive Leadership (2019) and A Time To Lead: Mastering Your Self So You Can Master Your World (2022), co-authored with Alan Mulally and Sarah McArthur. His podcast, Do Good To Lead Well, ranks in the top 1% globally, featuring interviews with notable thought leaders and CEOs.
 
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Timestamps:
[01:10] Positive Leadership and Self-Mastery.
[05:20] Self-mastery and self-reflection.
[07:10] Building leadership skills as habits.
[12:39] Mindset shifts and reframing.
[16:41] Mastering our strengths.
[20:28] Authentic leadership.
[27:56] Building optimal team dynamics.
[29:32] Building diverse and enhancing teams.
[35:06] Feedback strategies.
[37:30] Seeking feedback for personal growth.
[42:36] Positive leadership and energy.
[46:07] Leadership for flourishing.

Episode #52: How to exit the grind and live a happier, more fulfilling life

Dr. Maike Neuhaus is a future-oriented positive psychology coach dedicated to empowering individuals, teams, and organizations to flourish. As co-founder and Self-Leadership Driver of Ducidium, she spearheads a mission to equip others with the tools and mindset needed to confidently lead transformative journeys. She is also founder of the Flourishing Doc, offering courses, coaching, and resources to empower people to live life to the fullest, free of regret.
 
Having earned her Master's Degree in Psychology with specializations in Health and Organizational Psychology, and a PhD focused on effective behavior change strategies, Maike is a recognized expert in her field. She has held various academic positions, including Lecturer in Positive Psychology at the University of Queensland. She’s a highly-cited author, having published in international scientific journals, encyclopedias, and the world’s largest psychology and wellness platforms and magazines.
 
Maike's innovative spirit is evident in her creation of the first evidence-based Self-Leadership Course and her ongoing collaboration with global researchers to develop Self-Leadership 2.0. Through her work, she is determined to demonstrate that happiness can be cultivated and success achieved through the practice of self-leadership.
 
In her personal life, Maike took a significant step towards her own flourishing journey in 2019, when she exited the grind and started working for herself digitally on a global scale while travelling the world.
 
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Elena Aguilar:
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Maike’s other company she co-founded: Ducidium
 
 
Timestamps:
 
[04:29] Near-death experiences and appreciation.
[08:21] Self-leadership and positive psychology.
[13:34] Changing career paths.
[19:49] Exiting the grind and fulfillment.
[23:32] Burnout and exiting the grind.
[26:45] Categories of regrets.
[32:16] Self-leadership and flourishing.
[37:54] Pursuing happiness and life fulfillment.
[44:15] Social connections and wellbeing.
[46:47] Managing relationships with others.
[51:47] Goal setting challenges and motivation.
[55:01] Self-compassion and self-regulation.

Episode #51: How to use transformational coaching to thrive at work and in life

Elena Aguilar [Ay-lay-nuh Ar-gue-la] is a bestselling author and coaching expert known for her eight books on coaching and leadership development, including The Art of Coaching and The Art of Coaching Teams. Her forthcoming comprehensive coaching book, Arise: The Art of Transformational Coaching, highlights conversational skills to help you thrive and will be released in July 2024. She hosts The Bright Morning Podcast where she shares tools for educators.
 
Elena is the founder and CEO of Bright Morning Consulting, an organization dedicated to empowering educators and leaders with the skills and insights needed to create resilient and inclusive learning environments. Through Bright Morning, Elena offers workshops, coaching and consulting services focusing on equity, social justice, and emotional resilience.
 
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Elena Aguilar:
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Forthcoming book: Arise: The Art of Transformational Coaching
Most recent book The PD Book: 7 Habits that transform professional development
Most renowned book: The Art of Coaching: Effective Strategies for School
 
 
Timestamps:
[01:16] Emotional resilience habits.
[07:03] The need for belonging.
[15:19] Creating a sense of belonging.
[22:47] Transformational coaching model.
[29:35] Power dynamics in conversations.
[34:09] Empowerment through effective communication.
[42:34] Building emotional resilience.
[46:48] Resilience and societal structures.
[53:28] Resilience and emotional regulation.
[55:21] Cultivating awareness of thoughts.

Episode #50: How Theology can Help you Flourish, with Dr. Miroslav Volf

Dr. Miroslav Volf is a prominent theologian, scholar, author, and founding Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture.
Born in Croatia, Miroslav experienced the religious and political tensions of his homeland firsthand, which deeply influenced his academic and theological pursuits. He has authored numerous influential books, including Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation and Allah: A Christian Response, which engage with pressing theological and ethical questions in a globalized world. His most recent book is the New York Times bestseller Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most, co-authored with Matthew Croasmun and Ryan McAnnally-Linz last year.
Miroslav's work emphasizes the importance of dialogue, understanding, and reconciliation across religious and cultural divides, making him a significant figure in contemporary Christian thought and interfaith discourse.
In the episode, we discuss what we can learn about what it means to flourish and how to flourish from Life Worth Living and the Yale course of the same name, and how to answer what Miroslav calls “The Question” concerning human flourishing.
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Dr. Miroslav Wolf:
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Timestamps:
[01:05] A fresh perspective on flourishing.
[04:38] Education and human flourishing.
[08:49] Engaging with religious traditions.
[16:25] The meaning of human existence.
[20:08] Emotional side of life.
[24:27] Question of human existence.
[27:33] Components of the good life.
[34:32] The pursuit of eudaimonia.
[39:37] Values in different traditions.
[44:25] A life with pain.
[49:49] The beauty of suffering.
[53:33] The definition of success.
[56:04] The flame of ambition.

Episode #49: Why your mindset matters and what to start doing about it

We interview Dr. Gemma Leigh Roberts, a chartered psychologist and author specialising in wellbeing, resilience and mindset. She is a Top 5 LinkedIn Learning instructor, and over five million people have taken her LinkedIn Learning courses. Over 650,000 people subscribe to her 'Mindset Matters – Thriving at work' newsletter. The newsletter led to the publication, in 2022, of her first book, Mindset Matters: Developing mental agility and resilience to thrive in uncertainty.
 
Gemma has written for or been featured in Stylist, the Guardian, Yahoo Finance, Forbes and Business Insider and has appeared on the BBC. She specializes in helping people, teams and organizations understand what it takes to navigate challenges successfully, build resilience in the face of adversity, and create environments where it's possible for each individual to thrive and perform at their peak in their own unique way. Her clients include BP, Oracle, HSBC, Microsoft, Spotify, Vodafone, Nestlé and Disney and for the last 10 years she has worked with individuals, teams and organizations to help create agile resilient teams at work.
 
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Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Introduction to Flourish FM and Dr. Roberts00:02:19 - Key Mindset Skills for Thriving at Work00:02:41 - Importance of Resilience in the Evolving Workplace00:03:45 - Cognitive Flexibility and Adapting to Change00:04:48 - Growth Mindset and Learning in the Workplace00:06:25 - The Role of Connection in Mental Health and Productivity00:07:06 - Factors Leading to the Importance of Mindset Skills00:10:52 - Conceptualizing Resilience and Antifragility00:14:56 - The Sliding Scale of Resilience00:16:35 - The Six Pillars of Resilience00:24:49 - Connection as a Core Component of Resilience00:27:27 - Mental Agility vs. Emotional Agility00:28:13 - Acceptance and Resilience00:34:19 - Flow and Resilience00:36:22 - Acceptance as a Meta Pillar00:41:04 - Practical Coaching Strategies for Building Mindset Skills00:47:21 - Detailed Example of a Coaching Exercise

Episode #48: How to build great relationships, with Dr. Rick Hanson

We interview Dr. Rick Hanson, a prolific writer and practitioner of all things psychology, neuroscience, resilience and well-being. 
Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is a psychologist, Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, and New York Times best-selling author. His seven books have been published in 33 languages and include Making Great Relationships, Neurodharma, Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Just One Thing, Buddha’s Brain,  and Mother Nurture – with over a million copies in English alone. 
Rick is the founder of the Global Compassion Coalition and the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, as well as the co-host of the Being Well Podcast – which has been downloaded over 15 million times. His free newsletters have over 260,000 subscribers and his online programs have scholarships available for those with financial needs. 
Rick has lectured at NASA, Google, Oxford, and Harvard. An expert on positive neuroplasticity, Rick’s work has been featured on CBS, NPR, the BBC, and other major media. 
Rick began meditating in 1974 and has taught in meditation centers worldwide. He and his wife live in northern California and have two adult children. He loves the wilderness and taking a break from emails.
 
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Episode #47: Digging into how to “be well” with Dr. Rick Hanson

We interview Dr. Rick Hanson, a prolific writer and practitioner of all things psychology, neuroscience, resilience and well-being. 
Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is a psychologist, Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, and New York Times best-selling author. His seven books have been published in 33 languages and include Making Great Relationships, Neurodharma, Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Just One Thing, Buddha’s Brain,  and Mother Nurture – with over a million copies in English alone. 
Rick is the founder of the Global Compassion Coalition and the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, as well as the co-host of the Being Well Podcast – which has been downloaded over 15 million times. His free newsletters have over 260,000 subscribers and his online programs have scholarships available for those with financial needs. 
Rick has lectured at NASA, Google, Oxford, and Harvard. An expert on positive neuroplasticity, Rick’s work has been featured on CBS, NPR, the BBC, and other major media. 
Rick began meditating in 1974 and has taught in meditation centers worldwide. He and his wife live in northern California and have two adult children. He loves the wilderness and taking a break from emails.
 
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Timestamps:
[00:06:13] Flourishing and well-being.
[00:09:24] Awakening and self-actualization.
[00:14:03] Red zone and green zone.
[00:18:42] The utility of the red zone.
[00:23:51] Post-traumatic growth and resilience.
[00:25:19] Choosing Challenges vs. Life's Hardships.
[00:31:29] Practical advice for the green zone.
[00:32:49] Character strengths acquisition.
[00:40:24] Enoughness and satisfaction.
[00:44:49] Understanding brain evolution stages.
[00:49:41] Understanding trauma and resilience.
[01:04:23] Creating a global compassion coalition.
 

Episode #46: How to leverage failure and psychological safety in your team or organization, with Dr. Amy Edmondson

We interview Dr. Amy C. Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, a chair established to support the study of human interactions that lead to the creation of successful enterprises that contribute to the betterment of society. She has pioneered the concept of psychological safety for over 20 years and was recognized in 2021 as #1 on the Thinkers50 global ranking of management thinkers.
Amy is the author of Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy (2012), The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth (2018), and, most recently, Right Kind of Wrong: Why Learning to Fail Can Teach Us to Thrive (2023).
We speak to Amy about how to build psychological safety and learn from failure to promote flourishing, in teams, organizations, and our own lives.
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Dr. Amy Edmondson:
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Psychological safety
Right Kind of Wrong: Why Learning to Fail Can Teach Us to Thrive (2023)
 
Timestamps:
00:00:05 - Introduction to Professor Amy C. Edmondson00:00:27 - Defining Psychological Safety00:01:10 - Disrupting Misconceptions About Psychological Safety00:01:50 - Linking Psychological Safety to Thriving00:02:21 - Exploring Psychological Safety and Learning from Failure00:03:08 - Clarifying Psychological Safety in the Workplace00:05:03 - Examples of Interpersonal Risk-Taking00:06:35 - Insights from Amy's TED Talk on Teamwork and Error Rates00:09:41 - The Role of Discomfort in Psychological Safety00:10:07 - Creating a Psychologically Safe Environment00:12:18 - The Relationship Between Psychological Safety and Performance00:15:37 - The Spectrum of Psychological Safety in Teams00:20:34 - Challenges in Creating Psychological Safety in Certain Industries00:22:59 - Transition to Discussing "Right Kind of Wrong"00:23:27 - The Connection Between Psychological Safety and Types of Failure00:26:09 - Personal Stories of Intelligent Failure00:29:18 - Distinguishing Between Types of Failure00:37:19 - The Impact of Perfectionism on Psychological Safety00:38:55 - Psychological Safety Beyond Interpersonal Environments00:41:16 - Applying Right Kind of Wrong in Personal Lives00:44:03 - Practical Steps for Embracing Failure and Thriving00:48:01 - Leadership Behaviors to Avoid for Psychological Safety00:50:07 - The Importance of Context in Embracing Failure00:53:05 - When to Persist and When to Pivot in the Face of Failure00:56:18 - Final Practical Advice and Resources