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Podcast

PYP Colleen Patrick Goudreau

Becoming a Joyful Vegan with Colleen Patrick Goudreau: PYP 370

February 25, 2020

Colleen Patrick Goudreau is author, most recently, of The Joyful Vegan.

It’s a book about joy, yes, but joy as a strategic imperative in a world that is relentless in trying to undermine our resolve about living compassionate and brave lives.

While steadfastness and willpower and outrage can provide bursts of energy for our journey, Goudreau asserts, it’s joy that gives us the long-burning, clean fuel that allows us to come from love and compassion and understanding in all our interactions.

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Feed the Crying Baby at 3am: PYP 369

February 20, 2020

After the third consecutive night of no sleep, I was starting to lose it.

Our newborn daughter, who had looked so sweet and angelic in the moments right after her birth (9 on the APGAR – you go, girl!) had morphed into a demonic nighttime presence.

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Solving the Passion Paradox with Brad Stulberg: PYP 368

February 18, 2020

Brad Stulberg returns to the podcast to discuss his latest book, The Passion Paradox, co-written with Steve Magness. 
On the one hand, we’re supposed to “follow our passion.” 

On the other hand, we’re supposed to lead a “balanced life.”

Well, guess what? You can have a passionate life, or a balanced life. So which do you choose?

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The “Love at First Sight” Trap: PYP 367

February 14, 2020

If you think that you need to love – or even like – healthy food and exercise in order to do it, then you’re stuck.

I hear this all the time: “I tried kale, but I didn’t like it.”

And this: “I started jogging, but just didn’t get into it.”

And this: “I downloaded a meditation app, but I didn’t enjoy it.”

When we give up on things because they don’t trigger LAFS, we are by definition eliminating the possibility of adding the healthiest things to our lives. That’s because the healthy stuff, in our consumer culture, is surrounded by foods and activities designed to be addictive.

Today’s Friday Fertilizer from Plant Yourself explores the Love at First Sight Trap, and shows you a way out.

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Becoming Beloved Ancestors with Carolyn Raffensperger: PYP 366

February 11, 2020

Carolyn Raffensperger has been advocating for the environment since 1982. She’s currently executive director of the Science and Environmental Health Network, which is a key proponent of the Precautionary Principle when it comes to balancing economic and environmental impacts.

Raffensperger sees the environmental movement’s best strategy to reverse the destruction of our planet as one of civil rights litigation. Governments, at their core, are here to keep safe the commons upon which all life depends: clean air, clean water, clean soil. She argues that our current policies are violating the “Rights of the Unborn” to a clean and healthy environment. 

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Lessons from Platform Nine and Three Quarters: PYP 365

February 6, 2020

When we adopt a new habit, we often experience a honeymoon period. Partly it’s our enthusiasm and motivation at the first flush of hope and desire, and partly we’ve chosen this time to start because it’s particularly convenient or easy.

But the universe will test our resolve not too long after that. It can feel like slamming into a brick wall at the end of a runway.

What we do next determines our fate.

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The Joy of Movement with Kelly McGonigal: PYP 364

February 3, 2020

Kelly McGonigal is one of my favorite science/personal-development/psychology teachers and writers. And in a testament to her versatility and breadth of interests, her print books are in three different sections of my library: habits and behavioral science (The Willpower Instinct);  stress (The Upside of Stress); and exercise/movement (The Joy of Movement, her latest work.) Her audio course, The Science of Self-Compassion, is both a scientific tour de force and a big-hearted hug from a caring friend. 

She manages a rare writerly and scholarly trick: to adhere to the evidence while letting her own humanity flow through every page. 

Which is just to say, I had to deal with major Fanboy vibes when I connected with her via Skype. 

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Should You Sanitize Your Environment?: PYP 363

January 31, 2020

The public health crisis was going to be unprecedented, and catastrophic.

As the Americans clumsily extricated themselves from the Vietnam War in the early 1970s, tens of thousands of US troops would be returning home. And by some estimates, 90% of them had become addicted to heroin during their tour of duty.

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How Not to Diet with Michael Greger, MD: PYP 362

January 28, 2020

Michael Greger’s latest book, How Not to Diet, is just stunning. 

It’s a love song to science: its potential, its process, even its limitations. 

There has never been a more comprehensive, accessible, and evidence-based look at our current knowledge of how to get to and achieve a healthy weight.

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This is What Getting Older is Like: Matt Buckner on PYP 361

January 21, 2020

Matt Buckner’s low point came one day about 9 years ago, when he was 41.

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Hi, I’m Howard Jacobson, host of the Plant Yourself Podcast, co-author of You Can Change Other People and Sick to Fit, and co-founder of WellStart Health Coach Academy.

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