Good Life Project

Learn how to say what you think without blowing up your relationships. Most of us have been there. A conversation that starts completely normally and somehow ends with you lying awake at 2am wondering how it went so wrong, again. Whether it is a partner, a teenager, a colleague, or someone on the other side of a political divide, the cost of disagreement done badly is one of the quietest, most cumulative kinds of pain there is.

Julia Minson is a behavioral scientist and professor at the Harvard Kennedy School who has spent years studying the psychology of disagreement, researching how people handle opinions, judgments, and beliefs that differ from their own, and what it actually takes to navigate those moments without losing the relationship in the process. Her book How to Disagree Better distills that research into a practical, science-backed guide for anyone ready to do the real work of staying connected across difference.

In this conversation, you will discover:
The single most common mistake people make at the start of a disagreement that almost guarantees it will escalate into a full argument
The HEAR framework, a four-part behavioral science tool for expressing your view firmly without triggering defensiveness or shutting the other person down
Why leading with facts and data backfires when you are talking to someone who already disagrees with you, and what to use instead that dramatically increases trust
A critical practice for building disagreement skills on low-stakes conversations first, so you are not white-knuckling it when the big moments arrive
Why empathy is wonderful in theory but unreliable in the heat of the moment, and what to focus on instead that actually shifts the dynamic

If you are tired of watching important relationships quietly erode one hard conversation at a time, this episode is for you. Press play and let's figure out how to disagree better, together.

You can find Julia at: Website | LinkedIn | Episode Transcript

Next week, we're sharing our conversation with Dr. Nicole LePera, New York Times best-selling author of Reparenting the Inner Child, about why so many of us feel stuck in patterns we can't seem to escape, no matter how hard we try. And what's actually happening in your nervous system when that happens. It's a grounding, hopeful conversation.

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Before you ever say a word, you've already told the room everything it needs to know. Your posture, your eye contact, the angle of your body, the openness of your chest — all of it is speaking. And most of us have no idea what it's saying.

Linda Clemons is a world-renowned body language and nonverbal communication expert who has spent more than three decades training Fortune 500 CEOs, sales teams, celebrities, and media leaders to master the silent signals that build trust, command respect, and create connection. Her bestselling book Hush: How to Radiate Power and Confidence Without Saying a Word is a practical guide to the conversation your body is having without you.

We explore why 93% of communication is nonverbal and what that actually means in practice, the four power zones of the body and why keeping them open changes everything from a job interview to a conversation with your teenager, how our biases show up in our bodies before they ever come out of our mouths, the three patterns that derail us in high-stakes moments — frozen, flooding, and flat — and how to move through them, and why the question that changes everything is not what do I want to say but how do I want this person to feel when they leave? A deeply practical, energizing conversation for anyone who wants to show up more powerfully, more warmly, and more authentically in every interaction that matters.

You can find Linda at: Website | LinkedIn | Episode Transcript

If you LOVED this episode:
You’ll also love our conversation with Julia Minson about how to disagree better so you can have less drama and more impact in your life, your work, and your community.

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Join My New Writing Project: Awake at the Wheel
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People who are genuinely engaged in spiritual practice live longer, experience 30% lower all-cause mortality, report more meaning, and suffer less depression. The data are remarkably clear. And yet, more people are leaving organized religion than at any point in modern history. So what happens when we walk away from the institutions but still carry the hunger for what they provided?

David DeSteno is a professor of psychology at Northeastern University who has spent his career studying the mechanisms behind moral behavior, social emotions, and what he calls spiritual technologies — the rituals and practices baked into faith traditions that science is now showing work on our minds and bodies in measurable, powerful ways, whether or not we believe in God. He is also the author of How God Works: The Science Behind the Benefits of Religion.

We explore what the research actually shows about why religious engagement improves health outcomes so dramatically, the Hindu concept of vana prastha and why midlife may be the exact moment to shift from accumulating to sharing wisdom, how rituals like contemplating death, practicing gratitude, and moving in synchrony with others change our brains and behavior, why extracting spiritual practices from their original containers can sometimes backfire, and what it might look like to build a new kind of spiritual life if you've left the one you were raised in. A rare conversation that takes both science and the sacred seriously — without asking you to choose between them.

You can find David at: Website | Bluesky | Episode Transcript

Next week, we're sharing our conversation with Linda Clemons about how your body is speaking for you before you ever open your mouth. Be sure to follow Good Life Project wherever you get your podcasts so you don’t miss any upcoming episodes!

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Elena Brower spent two decades as one of the most visible yoga and meditation teachers in the world, stages of thousands, a growing platform, the whole forward-facing life. Then she started doing the opposite. She got quieter. She trained as a chaplain. She began sitting with people in hospice, in silence, holding nothing but presence. Her new book, Hold Nothing, draws on that journey and on an ancient Chinese sutra that became her compass: Welcome nothing. Refuse nothing. Reflect everything. Hold nothing.

This is a conversation about what happens when the drive to impact as many people as possible gives way to the desire to impact as few as possible, as quietly as possible. We explore what Elena's time in hospice has revealed about presence as the ultimate offering, the hidden cost of living a double life while teaching wholeness, how the practice of letting go transforms the closest relationships in your life, why silence is the thing most of us are allergic to and also the thing we most need, and what it actually means to prepare, through every small daily choice, to die a good death, and why that might be the clearest definition of a good life.

A deeply honest, quietly powerful conversation for anyone in midlife who is beginning to sense that the most important work ahead isn't about building more, it's about becoming less.

You can find Elena at: Website | Instagram | Episode Transcript

Next week, we're sharing our conversation with Dave DeSteno about the 'spiritual technology' that can lower your stress and mortality risk, even if you don't consider yourself a person of faith.

Check out our offerings & partners:
Join My New Writing Project: Awake at the Wheel
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It’s getting late, you know you “should” go to bed. But you just can't…or won’t. You tell yourself, just one more episode, or a few more minutes of scrolling, or a little more work to sneak in. It seems innocuous, but what if it was actually causing a world of harm? To your health, relationships, state of mind, performance at work, and more?

Our guest is Vanessa Hill, PhD, a leading sleep scientist and Research Fellow at CQ University, who specializes in the science of bedtime procrastination. She is a Science Communication Fellow at the Museum of Science and an expert in how our digital habits shape our rest.

And today, we’re talking about:
The near-addictive quality of sleep procrastination, and the hidden reason for it
The surprising research showing why blue light might not be the sleep villain we’ve been told it is
Why your "night brain" finds it nearly impossible to “do the right thing, and get to bed”
The one habit that often matters more than the total minutes spent on your phone
Why common sleep advice often fails, and what to do instead

If you find yourself stuck in a cycle of late nights and tired mornings, you are not alone. Listen to this episode to discover a more compassionate, science-backed way to reclaim your rest and feel like yourself again.

You can find Vanessa at: Vanessa's Substack | Instagram | Episode Transcript

Next week, we're sharing a conversation with Elena Brower about the wisdom of emptiness and the art of showing up to your life completely.

Check out our offerings & partners:
Join My New Writing Project: Awake at the Wheel
Visit Our Sponsor Page For Great Resources & Discount Codes

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.