The You Project

Rabbi Dr. Mordecai Finley is the only Rabbi in the world who has a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, so not only can he teach me Torah, provide spiritual guidance and explore philosophy with me but he can also D’arce choke me, Armbar me, Ezekiel Choke me (quite Old Testament), Heel Hook me and Omoplata the sh*t outta me (although he might not articulate it that way). The Rabbi is a spiritual psychologist, historian, philosopher, co-founder of Ohr HaTorah Synagogue in Los Angeles and holds a doctorate in Religion and Social Ethics from the University of Southern California. Oh (I nearly forgot this bit), he was also a Marine (straight out of school) for three years and single-handedly took down a gunman in a shopping centre with an automatic weapon and bad intentions. We both loved this chat so much that we decided to stay in touch moving forward. I made a new friend! That’s five now. As you’re aware, this episode is in two parts, the first one is a slower build (and us getting to know each other) but part two was super interesting and Rabbi Finley literally gave me a not-so-private coaching session. I hope you enjoy it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rabbi Dr. Mordecai Finley is the only Rabbi in the world who has a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, so not only can he teach me Torah, provide spiritual guidance and explore philosophy with me but he can also D’arce choke me, Armbar me, Ezekiel Choke me (quite Old Testament), Heel Hook me and Omoplata the sh*t outta me (although he might not articulate it that way). The Rabbi is a spiritual psychologist, historian, philosopher, co-founder of Ohr HaTorah Synagogue in Los Angeles and holds a doctorate in Religion and Social Ethics from the University of Southern California. Oh (I nearly forgot this bit), he was also a Marine (straight out of school) for three years and single-handedly took down a gunman in a shopping centre with an automatic weapon and bad intentions. We both loved this chat so much that we decided to stay in touch moving forward. I made a new friend! That’s five now. As you’re aware, this episode is in two parts, the first one is a slower build (and us getting to know each other) but part two was super interesting and Rabbi Finley literally gave me a not-so-private coaching session. I hope you enjoy it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Julie Goodwin is a household name in Australia. She is a much-loved Australian cook, author, radio and television presenter, who came to public attention when she won the inaugural season of MasterChef Australia in 2009. She has since published six cookbooks, with one of them selling over 200,000 copies, worked in breakfast radio, hosted her own TV show, owned a cooking school and even re-appeared on MasterChef for the 2022 season, as a competitor among other champions and high-performers. We open lots of doors in this chat and Julie courageously talks about, not only the peaks, but also the troughs. She is one of the most authentic, humble and open people I’ve interviewed and although she’s well known, there’s nothing about her that screams ‘celebrity’. And maybe that’s why she is so popular. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is the end of ‘actual’ food drawing nigh? It may be closer than we think. After a few recent stand-out appearances, Scientist, Nutritionist and Food Educator, Matty Lansdown has been the ‘flavour’ of the month at TYP. See what I did there? Lots of nice feedback, plenty of questions and a liberal smattering of “can we have Matty back soon?” requests. So... you’re welcome. This time we chat about good ol’ sausages (snags, bangers), why pasta puts me into a coma, cooked vs. raw veggies, mineral vs. soda water, air fryers, fibre, pooing, carnivore diets, super interesting research looking at our beliefs about what we’re eating and the subsequent impact those beliefs have on the way our body metabolises that food (in a completely atypical way) and finally, we chat about the atrocious new food guidelines (food pyramid, of sorts) funded and endorsed by the US government which says that Lucky Charms, chocolate covered almonds, Honey Nut Cheerios and sweet potato fries are all healthier options than steak. WTAF? Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nearly a thousand episodes ago (pre-pandemic), TYP favourite Paul Taylor and I got together for our first podcast chat and to this day, it is still a conversation people talk to me about as being one of their all-time favourites. Knowing that many of you have not heard it, have forgotten what was said (it was four years ago) or didn’t know about it, we decided to wheel it out for an encore, with a little bit of post-pandemic (kind-of) 2023 Melissa and I commentary at the start. Enjoy.  @mindbodybrainpiSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For a range of different reasons - some of them business, some of them personal - many of us are keen to build our level of social media ‘engagement’. Put simply, we want more people to watch, hear and interact with us. A drive for more reach, influence, sales, likes, comments, awareness, attention, credibility, interaction and/or social connection (and probably lots more). Well, the social media go-to guy on Planet Harps is Tommy Jackett; one of my five (or-so), pseudo sons. For this episode I pitted the virtual brain (Open AI) against Tommy’s organic brain to see where their ‘thinking’ diverged and converged. It was fun. Enjoy.  vidpod.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Elaine Aron, a leading psychologist and author renowned for her work on high sensitivity, dives into the fascinating traits of highly sensitive individuals. She sheds light on the societal challenges faced by sensitive men and the duality between sensitivity and extroversion in stressful situations. Aron discusses how childhood experiences shape emotional well-being, the unique strengths and struggles of sensitive people, and the empowering connection between sensitivity and spirituality. Prepare for insights that challenge conventional views on emotional depth!

After 32 years of being together and 25 years of marriage, Florence Williams discovered her husband was in love with another woman when he handed her his phone with the wrong email open (by accident). For Florence, the subsequent break down of her marriage was (as is often the case) traumatic, painful and heartbreaking. This was a broadly relevant and super-interesting chat with a woman who went on a significant journey to truly understand the experience and science, of heartbreak. Her recent book is called ‘Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey’ is super-popular and has been critically acclaimed. In this chat we talk about managing stress, rejection, nervous system and immune system responses to threats (real or perceived), social pain and physical pain responses in the brain, her use of psychedelics (fascinating) as therapy, her month in the wilderness to find herself and a myriad of other healing ‘therapies’ she explored. Enjoy.   *Bio: Florence Williams is a journalist, bestselling-author, and podcaster. She is a contributing editor at Outside Magazine and a freelance writer for the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, The New York Review of Books and numerous other publications. florencewilliams.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Give me 15 strategies to change my life.” That was the instruction Tommy Jackett typed into ChatGPT (Open AI) before we recorded and ten seconds after his request, he had 15 strategies generated by the virtual brain. He then shared them with me (in real time) on the show to see what my thoughts were about the advice being dispensed (for people) by Artificial Intelligence. It was fun and I may soon be redundant (LOL). Enjoy. vidpod.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is it possible to ‘reset’ our brain? Can we overcome our massive dopamine (the pleasure hormone) addiction? What is at the core of our epidemic-like levels of depression, anxiety and stress? What about the addictive things we put into our body (drugs, booze, junk food and specifically, sugar) vs. the addictive things we feed our mind (porn, online gaming, shopping, social media, gambling)? How many addicts don’t recognise their own addiction? In this episode of TYP, David and I talk about all these questions and more. We also disagree on a few things (again) and discuss the possibility of the ‘mind’ being nothing more than a construct (or theory) created to explain the cognitive processes which actually happen in (arise from) our brain, such as memory, attention, perception, decision making, language, problem-solving, reasoning and lots more. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.