There is a reason I chose to share podcasts this blog year. And the reason is…

I love podcasts. 

Just like other things a general group of people can agree they ‘love’, there are many different reasons as to the ‘why’.

As for podcasts, it’s my understanding, mostly based on several somewhat lengthy drives with my 23 year old niece, that they can have completely different…approaches? layouts? Her interests were highly entertaining and followed someone’s experience in real time.

Onbeing with Krista Tippett was probably the first podcast I listened to, I don’t think it was called a podcast (?) If it was, I didn’t refer to it as such, it was just listening to an interview with someone I was interested in. In this case, it was me google searching non Buddhist mindfulness. An interview with Krista and Ellen Langer popped up and it was exactly what I needed. I think I was in an online course creation mode and wanted resources to share for context to the practices. 

Brene Brown’s Unlocking Us (best name) was probably when I began listening with regularity. It was ‘breadcrumbs’ from then on, one listen would introduce me to other interesting people that included other podcast hosts. 

The last book I self published I named: abetterway. using inner resources to create your own algorithm. 

The inner resources are referring to Executive Functions. The algorithm, to my mind, simply means to attract the things to you that align with your authentic self, or what is meaningful to you. It’s using the very obvious pattern that appears in digital technology that includes any sort of data collection: what one ‘likes’, searches for, shares, comments on, spends time interacting with, etc., one continually gets more of.

abetterway (written as such to mimic the hashtag I used during 2020), takes on one executive function each month in 2021. The book has twelve chapters that include the blog posts for that month. The general concept is to consider the executive function as a focus for one’s self care – orienting to one’s own desired outcomes in a typical day. In my life, these desired outcomes ultimately get narrowed down to lifestyle habits:  having gas in a clean car, making the bed before I leave, having the right food in the refrigerator and preparing the right meals ahead of time, things put away, having organized and clean environment – everything is essentially getting out ahead of the potential obstacles that get in the way of me having good energy (clear mind, open heart, stable belly, alert relaxed muscles, calm safe comfortable skin). The ultimate desired outcome is to ‘feel good’ most of the day. I use normalized distribution as a tool to monitor my feeling state (clear and connected to what’s happening 65% of the time in 65% of opportunities). 

In the book, I am using my school job and the tools I have learned over the years as a school mental health provider as a reference and toolkit for my own wellbeing. Asking myself: am I implementing the strategies that I am suggesting for others? am I getting results? are they helpful? 

When I am regulated I attract to that which resonates with what I find valuable. What shows up in my social feeds and digital life in general are relevant to my interests. For me, even though it’s relevant, what shows up is WAY TOO MUCH. I think this is indicative of how things are right now in this global transition into a sustainable way to live with one another in a digital world. Brene Brown put a name to it in her 2024 podcast series as ‘living beyond human scale’. I don’t want to spend the rest of my years deleting three inboxes and organizing screenshots/photos/videos. I do want to use what is available to me to clean up my digital life, much like the habits I have implemented to pave some general steadiness in a typical day in my physical life.

I believe I have what I need. When I am regulated and create a space of stillness in my environment and within me, I know I have the resources available to meet my needs. When I am regulated and in a space of intential stillness (Quiet Time), it’s evident that what shows up aligns with what is relevant to my needs. This is my algorithm. It works for us, but it is indifferent – it will attract to the energy we create. This energy can be unintentionally drawing our awareness to what we don’t want, rather than pulling us toward what we do want.

There are many ways to say the same thing. One stablilizing energy source of possibility (this is said in so many ways: abundance, intuition, creativity, guidance, unconditional love and acceptance, etc) exists. When we calibrate to it we align with what is true for us, when one is aligned to one’s truth they do not need to control conditions, rather they can set themselves up for a potential path of least resistance. When one is calibrated to source, there is a sense of interrelatedness, an ongoing cosmic dance that intuits all are meant to be as they are in a greater pull toward somethingmore, and abetterway.

The storyitell about what is possible is same but different to anothers, yet all connected to one source of pure potential.

PS…To bookend this post, I am suggesting that the podcasts you listen to will support your algorithm. And the information you receive from the listens will support your desired outcomes. Obviously, it’s all resources, not just podcasts. My guess is you already recognize this pattern. It could be helpful to draw attention to it as there are SO MANY podcast options. I find the right ones pop into my feed MOST of the time.