The Atlas

How do you deal with transition? What kinds are no big deal versus which ones are a struggle? Join me and Lawrence while we discuss what goes into that process, how we struggle with it, and what things cause us to bristle against it.

There is no doubt about it, right now our communities are being tested. Not only at a macro level, but also a micro level. In this episode, Lawrence and I discuss the question of being a positive contributor to our communities. This is a tough conversation, but one that touches on everything from the mask wearing debate to military service.

I am an inspiration junkie. I always have been. And as someone with -- at best -- a belligerent relationship with institutionalized religion, I've always sought my inspiration in work. When it's taxed me, run me over and wrung me out, I've envied moments of truly envying people who can go to work, punch a clock and leave at night to return to a family and hobbies that they can pour their passion into. I have never been able to do that.

How do you begin to rebuild trust once it's been damaged? Building trust originally can be tough, but rebuilding after it's been broken is ten times harder. So, where do you start?

Something many people find surprising when they meet the 40+ year old me is something that those who knew me in my 20's often still tease me about: I used to have a very short fuse and volatile temper. In my late-20's I began recognizing that my lack of emotional regulation was starting to become a real roadblock to my career, and I dug in to work on it. For nearly a decade, I put such focus on changing my own patterns of behavior that when I look back at the early part of my career, I don't recognize myself at all.

Identity is a complicated, convoluted, mixed up bag of stuff we mostly get from those around us -- at least at first. So what happens when you are ready to start examining what you really want it to be, and how that matches what you actually want from life? Join Lawrence and me while we dive into this juicy topic!

If there is one topic on the planet that fascinates me more than any other, it's the question of how much of who we are is innate (nature) versus cultivated (nurture). As a result, there isn't another topic on which I do more reading and more studying; neurobiology, the mapping of the human brain, cognitive re-programming, brain chemistry and the increasingly large body of information associating genetics with different characteristics is something that I can nerd out on for days.

This week I posed a question: how do we help people get past a resistance to change? A fight against change is central to so many of the toxic things we see around us now, but a basic resistance to it starts with individuals. Our conversation covers everything from Black Lives Matter to the weaponization of Christianity.