We invest in our bank accounts, our retirement plans, our houses, our careers...but often, we forget (or don't know how) to invest in our most important relationships.

Relationships can be challenging. In moments of clarity, you can feel deep love and connection. But in the tough times, it’s easy to judge, blame, get frustrated and sink into disconnection. Those tough times are defining moments.

As a researcher for over 20 years, Marc Brackett, Ph. D. has focused on the role of emotions and emotional intelligence in learning, decision making, creativity, relationships, health, and performance. Marc's mission is to educate the world about the value of emotions and the skills associated with using them wisely.

If you value growth, focus more on iteration and less on outcomes. Place more emphasis on learning and evolving versus simply achieving. You will be healthier, happier and so much more resilient.

Entering into the unknown can be scary. It can feel directionless and uneasy. But like today's guest, Josie Schweitzer, reminds us:

"It's ok to be in the unknown. It's a good time to get out a map, and get a handle on where it is that you are. The practice is not about letting go [in the unknown], it's about developing the capacity to get over and through any terrain."

Josie has spent her career embodying and curating different yoga styles, landing most recently on a transformative, eye-opening practice called Kotonah Yoga. This practice, and Josie's unique gifts, allow her to speak powerfully to how the philosophies and actions shared in the yoga studio beautifully reflect how we can move through life, no matter the circumstances, with happiness, strength and confidence.

What is a compulsion or a compulsive behavior? By one definition it's an uncontrollable impulse to perform an act, often repetitively, as an unconscious mechanism to avoid unacceptable ideas and desires which, by themselves, arouse anxiety. Often we may think of a compulsion in extremes with the unfortunate disorders such as a compulsive gambling, the many forms of OCD, and more.

But what about "normal" things like checking email, creating and actioning an ever-growing to-do list, or even just the need to be doing something and avoiding stillness? In our own lives we experience and have to work through our "compulsion of doing". The urge to always be creating something, making something, or feeling the need for our daily efforts to be productive.

From a very young age, Ellen Boeder had big questions about our collective connectivity and she wanted to fully understand the relationship with herself and with others.

At the age of 14, in her first week of high school, she was introduced to a therapist who visited her health class, and it was then that she knew psychology (and personal growth) was the path for her.

Fast forward to her first 'real' experience in the field, as a volunteer at a women's prison, Ellen taught creative writing to inmates as a form of therapy and healing. This was the very first time that she had experienced a group of people who were trying to piece their lives back together after immense traumas and hardship. The writing was an exercise in putting all the pieces back together. She recounts what an honor and privilege it was to be trusted and "let in" by these women to help transform their lives. And found a powerful life force watching these women pursue and accomplish amazing things from the darkest of places.

If you've ever wanted to look at your life more holistically and define how YOU want to spend your time more intentionally...doing more of what you love and less of what you don't..this episode is for you.

We explore our framework for Intentional Lifestyle Design - Strategic Planning for Life. What it is, how it works, how it started, what are the outcomes, etc. Along the way, we share stories, perspectives and strategies you can use today that will transform your life from where you are now to where you want to be - even before doing the full course.

What would it be like to share every aspect of your life with your partner? The vast majority of us experience a large portion of our lives independent of our partner or spouse. On average, nearly one-third of our lives are spent at work, reconvening on the home front. Many might admit they could never work with their partner in life, but this couple challenges that construct with their unique lifestyle.

In this episode we're revisiting a past conversation with an amazing duo that has inspired us and many others through the way they've chosen to live their lives together. They live a life much, much different than most (and one we can empathize with deeply), where every aspect of their journey is shared. Partners in life, parenting, family, business, and more, Alex and Amy White join us for an intimate conversation on the ups and downs of living a fully (and we mean fully) integrated life.

Change is happening all around us, inside us, all of the time. But so often we want to ignore or even rush through changes in our lives. Potentially to avoid the discomforts or struggle associated with it, or we're too busy to slow down and appreciate the changes as they occur. Even the BIG things in our lives, like the birth of a child or the ending of a relationship, we want to breeze through as if nothing else has to change, stacking it on top of everything else we're doing in our lives.