I’ve put together a short list of tips for engaging with people who hold views contrary to your own.

The internet makes it easy to live inside our own little content bubbles where we are protected from any viewpoints other than those with which we already agree.

But this is a big problem.

When we aren't exposed to opposing perspectives, we don’t learn how to relate to the people who hold them. 

In the same way that dealing with challenges makes us better and more resilient, exposure to opposing viewpoints makes us intellectually sharper and more insightful.

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In this episode, I speak with entrepreneur and former NASA engineer, Harleen Kaur. Harleen is the founder of Ground News, a news platform that helps combat media bias by allowing people to compare how different news outlets from across the political spectrum are covering the same story.

Also, I’ve been using Ground News for the past few months to give me a more well-rounded and balanced perspective on current events. I’ve found a lot of value in it. I highly recommend giving it a try!

https://ground.news/thinkgrow

I speak with author Tom-Butler Bowdon. While Tom was working as a government advisor in Sydney, Australia, he began reading and taking detailed notes on many classic personal growth books in an effort to further his career.

He had an idea to organize these notes into a book and worked on this for four years. In 2001, he released 50 Self-Help Classics, which has been translated into 15 languages.

Since then, he has distilled the most important ideas from hundreds of other classic books across multiple genres, including psychology, spirituality, and philosophy (my personal favorite).

The 50 Classics Series has been immensely valuable to me in understanding the landscape of ideas in a particular field and making complicated philosophical and psychological works more accessible.

Tom’s mission is simple: more people knowing more.

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Skillshare is an online learning community with over 25,000 courses on a wide range of subjects from cooking to writing to watercolor painting. I love it and use it to keep my mind sharp. Try the Premium Membership for free here: skillshare.com/THINKGROW.

I speak with psychiatrist and neuroscientist Dr. Amir Levine about attachment theory, which is the subject of his best-selling book, Attached. We discuss:

• How our attachment style affects our behavior in relationships

• The upside of anxiety and threat-sensitivity

• How to use attachment theory to improve your relationships

• How depending on others can actually make you more independent

• ...and much more

PLEASE SUPPORT THIS EPISODE'S SPONSOR

Skillshare is an online learning community with over 25,000 courses on a wide range of subjects from cooking to writing to watercolor painting. I love it and use it to keep my mind sharp. Try the Premium Membership for free here: skillshare.com/THINKGROW.

I speak with filmmaker, marketer, and sense-maker, Rob Hardy. We discuss how to navigate the complexity of human values, the tension between freedom and constraint, the intersection of values and politics, the rise of secular "religions," what it means to be a citizen, and much more.

Please support our sponsor, Skillshare.

Skillshare is an online learning community with over 25,000 courses on a wide range of subjects from cooking to writing to watercolor painting. I love it and use it to keep my mind sharp. Try the Premium Membership for free here: skillshare.com/THINKGROW.

Nedra Tawwab is the author of the New York Times best-selling book, “Set Boundaries, Find Peace.” In this conversation, she explains what boundaries are, why we need them, and how they can improve our lives. She also gives her thoughts on setting COVID-related boundaries. You can purchase Nedra’s book, “Set Boundaries, Find Peace” on Amazon.

Please support our sponsor, Skillshare!

Skillshare is an online learning community with over 25,000 courses on a wide range of subjects from cooking to writing to watercolor painting. I love it and use it to keep my mind sharp. Try the Premium Membership for free here: skillshare.com/THINKGROW.

In this episode I speak with friend, former Wildland Firefighter, and author of Rewrite the Rules, Alex Starr about:

• His adventures and misadventures of wildland firefighting

• The value of questioning our assumptions

• The balance between desire and gratitude

• How to build resilience

• …and more

We all share six fundamental needs that contribute to well-being. The manner in which we meet these needs, however, varies from person to person. In this episode, I share some of the things I personally do to meet these needs in my own life.

I attempt to refine my model of well-being, which I began discussing in Episode 51. This model is centered around needs. Like any other creature, we have needs that must be met in order to facilitate well-being. If we can simply identify what these needs are, then well-being is simply a matter of meeting these needs in adaptive and sustainable ways.

Of course, this raises many questions, one of which is: What are our needs? Relying on research from sociology, psychology, and philosophy, I try to answer this question.

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Skillshare is an online learning community with thousands of different classes for creative and curious people. Explore your creativity at skillshare.com/TGP and get a free trial of Skillshare Premium Membership. Receive free access to thousands of classes for a limited time.

In this episode, I think out loud about values and how they relate to well-being. Values are important because they are the principles on which we base our actions. Any action we take is based on some value, whether conscious or unconscious. Understanding our values can give us more clarity and perspective on our behavior and point us in a more constructive direction.

Dysfunction and imbalance are often a result of failing to recognize the full spectrum of values we have as human beings. Or, we go too far in one direction, pursuing one value to the exclusion of all others.

EPISODE SPONSOR

Skillshare is an online learning community with thousands of different classes for creative and curious people. Explore your creativity at skillshare.com/TGP and get a free trial of Skillshare Premium Membership. Receive free access to thousands of classes for a limited time.

I speak with Chris Williamson (@chriswillx on IG). He is the host of the popular podcast Modern Wisdom, owner of a UK event company, and coach for people who want to get more out of life. He's also a former reality TV star. We discuss his journey through depression, the value of knowing your personality traits, and various approaches for dealing with the inevitable uncertainty and discomfort of life. His website is https://chriswillx.com/

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