So, what if being highly sensitive was actually a superpower, not something to be fixed?
If you’ve ever heard the term, “highly sensitive person,” or even been called highly sensitive and maybe even recoiled a bit when that happened, our conversation with today’s guest, Dr. Elaine Aron, just might change your world. An acclaimed researcher, she first identified high sensitivity as a distinct character trait more than 25 years ago, introducing the term “Highly Sensitive Person” to describe someone who is easily overwhelmed by strong sensory input, subtleties in environment and other people’s moods, processes things in different ways and at different speeds, and deeply feels pressure and overstimulation.
Since its publication in 1995, her preeminent book on the subject, The Highly Sensitive Person, has gone on to become an international bestseller translated into 30 languages. She is also the author of The Highly Sensitive Parent, and many others. She has established the Foundation for the Study of Highly Sensitive Persons and published many scientific articles on sensitivity in the leading journals in her field.
Turns out, today’s conversation was also personal, because in many ways, I’ve begun to realize that I actually identify as a highly sensitive person. But, I also discovered so much more about the way I move through the world, how this trait relates to introversion and extroversion – very surprising – and how you can be both highly sensitive, while also being high-sensation, which I’d never heard before. And, we also discover how Elaine’s lens on high sensitivity has evolved in meaningful ways since her groundbreaking early research on the topics.
We can put huge amounts of physical and emotional energy into our jobs – even basing our self-worth on our achievements at work and letting ourselves be defined by what we do. So have our careers taken over too much of our lives?
Simone Stolzoff (author of The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work) argues that we should stop hunting for the “perfect” job – that idealized career that will prove to others how smart, industrious or virtuous we are – and instead find an occupation that allows to us live happier and more rounded lives that don’t revolve only around work.
Author Daniel Pink teaches us how to transform our relationship with regret so that we can live happier, more fulfilling lives.
Named by Apple as the Best Show of the Year 2021, host Dr. Maya Shankar blends compassionate storytelling with the science of human behavior to help us understand who we are, and who we become, in the face of a big change.
Okay, so the title of this episode is "Professional Women, No Kids" but I want ALL women to participate in this discussion. So, if you have kids or not...join us for this conversation!
Here is the official podcast description:
More and more women are reaching their mid-forties without having children. Sometimes this is by choice, and sometimes it's not. But here's what both sets of women have in common: they're operating in a world where being a mother is still considered the default setting for women. Discussions of women in leadership usually assume every woman has to juggle her work with children. But where does that leave the rest of us?
Navigating friendships as an adult on your spiritual journey has an array of challenges. There are a million books and talks out there on navigating romantic relationships with your partner, but we never are handed a guide on how to have a thriving, healthy friendship as an adult!
In this episode I sit down with Danielle Bayard Jackson aka @thefriendshipexpert and dive deep into all of the unspoken aspects of platonic relationships.
We discuss the conflicts of friendships, the questions to ask before discarding a friendship, the fantasy of platonic relationships, the unspoked obligation of history + loyalty, and why women measure against each other. Danielle shares her advice on how to elevate and nurture thriving friendships that are conducive to your growth, how to redesign your friendship algorithm, her top ways to make (or re-make) new friends, and more.
If you are struggling with finding aligned friendships, this episode is the advice and encouragement that you have been looking for! Join us in this heart-felt conversation that is sure to bring you reassurance, inspiration, and a new perspective on cultivating your community.
We all have preconceived notions about which personality types are fit to be in positions of power. And as a result, a lot of incompetent men become leaders because of the confidence they give off. But being self-assured doesn’t make you good at the job. Imagine if there were more reserved but truly competent women in leadership? So what if your boss blushes easily, as long as she’s emotionally intelligent and inspires her team?
One woman’s struggle with shyness prompts us to explore the seeming conflict between being shy and being a leader. With the help of an expert, we examine the professional advantages of certain personality traits related to shyness — like sensitivity and thoughtfulness — and discuss strategies to overcome the aspects of them that may hold you back at work.
Liar, liar – all of our pants are on fire. In this juicy conversation about lying:
Former professional poker player Annie Duke has a new book on Steve’s favorite subject: quitting. They talk about why quitting is so hard, how to do it sooner, and why we feel shame when we do something that’s good for us.
From the host, Steve D. Levitt:
"In her latest book entitled Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away, Annie tackles one of my favorite subjects: quitting. All sorts of systematic biases have been laid bare by the field of behavioral economics. But in my opinion, not quitting soon enough is the most costly mistake people are making in their everyday lives. But I haven’t had much success in convincing people that’s the case. Hopefully, Annie Duke is more persuasive than I am."
Our relationships are the most important variable in our health and happiness, but they may also be the most difficult. This is especially true when those closest to us turn out to be emotionally immature people.
Lindsay C. Gibson is a clinical psychologist and bestselling author who specializes in helping people identify and deal with emotionally immature people, or EIP’s. Her first appearance on our show was one of our most popular episodes of 2022. Now she’s back to offer concrete strategies for handling the EIP’s in your life, wherever you may find them. Her new book is called Disentangling from Emotionally Immature People.
In this episode we talk about:
A primer on the cardinal characteristics of emotionally immature people (EIP’s), how to spot them, and why you might want to
What Lindsay means by “disentangling” from EIP’s, and how to do it
What often happens to your own sense of self when you’re in relationship (or even just in conversation) with an EIP
How to interact with an EIP
How to prevent brain scramble when you’re talking with someone who isn’t making any attempt to understand what you’re saying
How she reacts when she comes across EIP’s in her everyday life
Whether it’s possible to have some immature characteristics without being an EIP
Handling your own emotionally immature tendencies
Whether or not EIP’s can change
The limits of estrangement
Why she encourages “alternatives to forgiveness”
