The Sapio Files

Throughout life, you are bound to hear some of the same cliche pieces of advice over and over. But are cliches so common for a good reason, or are they mostly just outdated advice? This episode, we are analyzing some of the most popular cliches and giving you our hot takes on which ones hold up, which ones need to be taken only in a specific context, and which ones are reductive, unhelpful, or just need to be retired. 

We're back this week with our guest host, Caleb, and we're ready to dig into dating over the years. From jousting for a woman's hand, to regency era, to arranged marriages, to free love, all the way through dating app drama, we break down how something so universal as looking for a partner has shifted over time. 

Join us this week as we share our top picks for our favorite movies that give us ALL THE FEELS. We're not just talking about movies that make us happy or make us cry. We are choosing our favorite scenes that make us really feel a multitude of emotions and share why they are so meaningful to us. Spoiler Alerts are in effect, so if you hear us mention a movie that you don't want to know about,  jump ahead a few minutes. 

Those who know us know that we love analyzing personality types and literature. So when we found the chart for the 9 moral alignments, we thought that would be another fun framework to explore. This week, we are talking about the moral alignments and what they mean to us and to our favorite characters. Confession time: When we decided we wanted to record this episode, we soon discovered that we knew very little about the origin of this alignment system, or even the fact that it originated in Dungeons and Dragons. So naturally, we reached out to a friend with more experience in the system's origins to fill in the gaps! This week, join us and our fantastic guest host, Caleb, as we explore the 9 moral alignments!

We're back with another one of our classic episodes. Some fictional characters are widely accepted as beloved or heroic. Some are accepted as unquestionable villains. But today, we are here to shake up what you think you know about your favorite characters. Which characters are overrated? Which fictional couples deserve more respect? Whose story should have ended differently or more controversially? Join us for our hot takes on fictional characters this week. Of course, spoiler alerts are in effect, so if you don't want to know what happened in any of these stories, use the time stamps below to skip ahead of a section:2:10-7:26: Lord of the Rings7:27-13:50: Friends13:51-21:07:How I Met Your Mother21:08-26:15: Pretty Little Liars26:16- 49:58: Harry Potter(mini segue within Harry Potter section- 46:19-49:07: Divergent)49:59- 1:04:14: One Tree Hill(mini segue within One Tree Hill section- 54:21-55:25 Downton Abbey)1:04:15-1:09:03: Disney Classics (specifically Sleeping Beauty and Little Mermaid)

This month marks a milestone for Chelsea-- who finally released her own original music for the first time. If you've been following us from the beginning, you'll know that this was a long time coming. As Caela is a published writer herself,  this week is a celebration of something they both love to do-- write! Join us as we talk about the nuances of different types of writing, self-expression, and artistic mediums. What should a writer be aware of? How do the styles of writing dictate expectations? When is it okay to break a rule? And what can a novice writer do to get started? Join us to find out!How to find our writing:Chelsea's music- https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/chelseavarga/chasing-thunderstormsCaela's novel- https://www.amazon.com/Someone-Elses-Shoes-Caela-Provost/dp/1539848396Caela's travel blog- https://www.findinghomeacrossnorthamerica.org/

We're back after our long hiatus and summer break!! In the time since we last recorded an episode, Chelsea got engaged! And as maid of honor, this is big news for Caela as well! So in order to kick things back off in a festive way, we are talking all about wedding traditions this week. We share many of the most popular wedding traditions and break down some of the surprising origin stories behind them. Join us for this fun look at weddings and find out just how many of your favorite wedding traditions actually have to do with evil spirits (It's a surprising amount).

Welcome back! This week, Caela, Chelsea, and frequent guest host, Jake, are all in the same room for the first time in 16 months! To celebrate, we are listening to some of our favorite movie scores and trying to answer the question: Why does the music make us feel that way? Join us as Caela shares her favorite instrumental music and Jake and Chelsea attempt to use music theory and other musical knowledge to explain what's REALLY happening when we hear an epic movie score. Join us for this exciting musical analysis episode. You may just learn to hear your favorite movie scores in a brand new way!

Advertisers once focused all their energy on commercials, print ads, and media. But today's consumers cannot be easily reached by these methods. Today, it is all about the influencers-- social media users and minor celebrities who have curated a following online. But what exactly is an influencer? Why do these people have so much power? How can the influencer culture change the way business is done across many fields? Join us as we dive into influencers and the way they're changing the world. We're giving you our takes on different types of influencers and some of our favorites this week!

In today's social and political climate, people have trouble agreeing on not only their opinions, but also on the basic facts that make up the basis of those opinions. Why, in a world where so much information is available to us, is it so hard to know the truth? This week, we are diving into misinformation, disinformation, malinformation, "fake news", gaslighting, the role algorithms play in delivering incorrect information, and why this can happen to even the smartest among us. How can we be sure that what we know to be true is actually the truth?  Join us this week to find out!

This week, we are taking a trip back to our childhood! Join us as we go through some popular TV shows of the 1990s and early 2000s to determine which ones hold up today, and which are problematic when seen through adult eyes. We decide which of the fashion, game, and pop culture trends we loved, hated, would want to bring back, or are happy to leave in the past. And we take a look into how the changing trends reflect the changing times, for better and for worse.

It's our third anniversary! Thank you for being such an important part of our listener family! With more than 100 episodes to choose from, where should a new listener begin? Last year we gave you recaps of each prior episode on episode 74. This year, we are continuing that tradition by recapping everything we've discussed since then! While it's been a crazy year for the world, it has been a great year for our show! Join us as we test our memories, recap the last year on our show, and choose our favorite moments!

Hobbies have kept us all sane this past year. This week, we are excited to welcome back our guest host Mike Walsh (previously heard in our Life Lessons From Sports Episode) to talk about one of his favorite hobbies-- home brewing beer.  Mike is here to share how he got involved in home brewing and what goes into this process-- the creativity behind inventing recipes, equipment needed, how beer is made, how to cultivate hobbies like this, and what you need to know to get started!

Imagine this scenario: You're standing next to a railroad track and you see a runaway train with no ability to stop. Up ahead, you see that five workers are stuck on the track and will be killed by the train. You have a lever you can pull that will switch the train to a side track, but on that track, there is one worker who will be killed if you pull the lever. What do you do? This classic ethical dilemma, officially known as "The Trolley Problem", was our starting point for this week's discussion. What would you do in a no-win situation? What schools of thought in the realm of moral philosophy could help you solve this dilemma? What do our decisions in these situations reveal about our priorities, morals, and beliefs?  How is this scenario becoming more relevant with the dawn of new technology? Join us for a thought-provoking discussion on ethical dilemmas, morality, philosophy, and creative problem-solving this week on The Sapio Files!

When we read a favorite book or watch a favorite show, the experience is more than simply entertaining. For many of us, we feel as though we are watching our best friend. But why is it that we create such strong bonds with fictional characters? How can these one-sided relationships help and hurt us? This week, we're digging into the psychology behind why we bond to fictional characters and what that says about us.

Welcome to our 100th episode! We are so happy to have been able to bring you fun and interesting content over the last hundred episodes, and we thank you for being a part of our listener family! At the end of every episode, we remind you all to stay curious. So, we thought it was only fair to practice what we preach. For our 100th episode celebration this week, we bring you 100 things we are curious about! Thank you for joining us over these last hundred episodes, and we look forward to more!

Happy February! With Valentine's Day coming up, we thought we'd take a look at some of the most common interpretations of soulmates in literature and mythology. What is a soulmate? How is it different from a twin flame, kindred spirit, karmic soulmate, or life partner? Where do these ideas come from? Join us for this fun look at love and relationships from a unique perspective. And be sure to tune in next week for our 100th episode celebration!!

We're three weeks into the new year. Have you started struggling with your resolution yet? New Year's Resolutions are a popular tradition that people use to look forward to better times and find ways to improve themselves. Why then, do many of us not make it past January before giving up? Why are they so difficult to keep? This week, we're digging into the most common and popular New Year's Resolutions and the struggles with each of them. Join us for new inspiration, strategies for success, and ways to frame resolutions so that they are not only valuable, but achievable. Happy 2021!

2020 is almost over! We made it!! To say that it's been a crazy year would be the understatement of the century. This year has been so wild that in preparing this review, we found we forgot about major news events that happened just a few months ago. This week, we are breaking apart the major events of this wildly unprecedented year and the big lessons and takeaways this year provided. Happy (well-deserved) New Year, sapiophiles!!! We will be back in 2021!

This year, more than any year before, we find ourselves with a lot on our plates.  How can we balance all that this year has thrown at us and still maintain health and sanity? This week, we are unpacking the "juggling balls" theory of priorities-- and analyzing our own priorities to determine which tasks are rubber balls that will bounce back if dropped, which are metal balls that will make a lot of noise and be hard to pick back up, and which are glass balls that will shatter. 

Happy Thanksgiving! In most years, Thanksgiving weekend is a time when we have a big friendsgiving party and welcome in the holiday season. Like so many other aspects of "Normal life", 2020 has made that impossible this year. So, we thought we'd take our party online and include all of you! This week, we are joined by three friends to help us celebrate and discuss our favorite parts of thanksgiving, memories from the past year, gratitude, favorite books and TV shows that got us through the year, wishes and goals for 2021, shoutouts to so many of our friends, and a whole lot more! 

On a special edition of our show this week, we are talking to frequent guest host, Jake Sachs, about an exciting new project he's recently released! Join us for an exclusive interview about the making of his new album, "Continue", from the original concept all the way to production and release! Get a behind-the-scenes look at the music and the inspiration behind it. "Continue" is available now on all the streaming services! Download it here: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/jakesachs/continue-2 

Happy Halloween, Sapiophiles! For your Halloween-themed dose of dark and creepy tales this week, we're taking you on a haunting journey through the original Grimm's Fairy Tales. These are not your children's fairytale stories. Join us as we dive into the original versions of some of the most popular tales, and break down their gruesome, haunting, violent, problematic, and gory roots. It's a chilling episode you won't want to miss!For more haunting tales, check out the brand new radio play from our friends at interACT Audio Productions, "Ghostlights": https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1536338758 

There are few scenarios scarier than being a healthy, active twenty-something woman and hearing the words, "you have cancer". This week, we're talking to blogger and "accidental rare disease advocate" Christina Kosyla- who, as a young, active theatre teacher, actress, and yoga instructor, discovered that she had developed desmoid-type fibromatosis-- an incredibly rare soft tissue sarcoma that few have heard of, and even fewer have been able to diagnose. She's here this week to talk to us about her fascinating journey that has resulted from this diagnosis, how she's managed to stay strong and positive, how the global pandemic affects those with chronic health conditions such as hers, the universality of some of her struggles, why she calls those with her condition "the unicorn squad", and a whole lot more. For more on Christina's story, follow her blog at http://girlmeetscancer.com 

The covid-19 pandemic has made 2020 feel like it's thousands of years long. Maybe that's because in the recorded history of the world, it is only the 17th full-scale pandemic on record. This week, we're taking a look back at these pandemics and the lessons we can learn from them. What common themes exist across history in these pandemics? Find out this week.

We think we know what will make us happy. That's why we do things like focus on the positive, give ourselves as much choice as possible, and focus our energies on becoming like those people who have the lives we want. And most of the time, we're totally wrong. This week, we are breaking down common misconceptions about what will make us happy. Based on the online course called "The Science of Well-Being" and the accompanying podcast "The Happiness Lab" from Yale professor Dr. Laurie Santos, we are diving into the ways that humans find happiness and why it isn't what you think. Find out why positive thinking can lead to negative outcomes, why we don't actually want as many choices as we think we do, and much more.Find out more: https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-beinghttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-happiness-lab-with-dr-laurie-santos/id1474245040

How much do you really know about the common expressions you speak? Do you know where they originated? Do you know why they were used? This week, we break apart common expressions and their origins... and find that many of them have completely different meanings from the ones we know today. 

It's been six months, and while restrictions have loosened a bit, many of us are still living the quarantine life. How does this affect our relationships with partners, friends, families, and colleagues? This week, we talk about the unique challenges we're facing in this time in history and what we can do about it. How can we keep physical distancing from becoming true social distancing? How can we leverage the technology we have to find creative ways to reconnect? Join us as we share our thoughts on this universal topic.

In every corner of our lives, we see and hear societal expectations of what a healthy or attractive body should look like. We are bombarded with images in the media and on our friends' social media feeds that tell us that our worth should be tied to the number on the scale. Every fad diet claims to have the solution that will "finally give you the body you always wanted"... and almost none of these "ideal bodies" are sustainable or even healthy for the vast majority of us. The diet industry has done a shockingly great job at creating an entire society of self-conscious, insecure people who have been trained to hate their bodies. This week, we are digging into the psychological effects of diet culture, unpacking some of the most dangerous misconceptions about health and weight loss, and giving you our favorite self-care suggestions for breaking the constant battle with our minds. Find out why there is no "correct" healthy diet for everyone, where the BMI scale came from and why it is, frankly, b***sh*t, how to listen to your body to figure out what it actually needs, our favorite influencers and media sources to help us practice self-love and body compassion, and a whole lot more. 

For years, people have thought of IQ as the ultimate measure of intelligence. But real intelligence is more complicated than that. In fact, IQ tests only touch on three measures of intelligence. This week, we're dissecting Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences theory and finding out the many ways in which humans display intellect. 

We love music! This week, we are using that love to play a song association game and give you some recommendations! What songs come to mind when you think of a sleepy afternoon? An exciting first date? A tough time in life? Join us as we try to come up with songs for each of these (and more) occasions and share some of our favorites with you!

If you've been following us for awhile, you already know that we LOVE personality tests! But while these tests provide lots of fun and insights, what do they really mean from a psychological perspective? This week, we are joined by Psychology Professor Katrina Graham, who helps us analyze these tests through a scientific lens and clues us into some of the strengths and weaknesses of each one. Find out what we need to watch out for and how to use and interpret these results in the way they are meant. Plus, we take a look at how certain abnormal psychology conditions can affect the ways in which we act. 

As women in our early thirties, we find ourselves frequently coming face-to-face with societal expectations. But where do these expectations come from? How do they affect us today? This week, we're pulling apart these stereotypes-- from the idea that a single woman in her thirties is somehow "less than" for not rushing towards marriage and kids, to gender norms that make men hesitate before showing love to their friends, to the contradicting simultaneous phenomena of slut shaming and virgin shaming. How do we interpret these expectations in our own lives? Join us this week to find out!

Welcome back for part two of our flirting episode! We are once again joined by Jake and David as we break down even more of the flirting discussion. Join us as we dig into friend zone, flirting with preexisting friends, specific flirting behaviors that we've found useful, and what NOT to do. 

Why do we flirt? How do we flirt? Why is flirting such a universal concept, yet one with so many styles and different purposes? This week, we are joined by Jake and David- two of our favorite repeat guest hosts- as we break apart the psychology of flirting, strategies, behaviors, gender norms, expectations, types of flirting, favorite moves, and more. It's a fun and enlightening conversation for singles and couples alike! And because there are soooo many fun angles to take with this topic, be sure to join us again next week for part two of the flirting discussion!

You can speak English well. You can write English well. But do you have any idea WHY you need to say or write things in a particular way? Don't worry...  most people don't. But as a team of a Published Author and a Reading Specialist, we've got you covered. This week, we are breaking apart some of the most common grammatical faux pas and misconceptions that we see. Find out why there are TWO grammatically correct answers to "How are you?", why the oxford comma is so important, why word choice can actually change the implications of what you're saying, and how to determine which of two seemingly alike words is actually the correct choice for your sentence. PLUS, using English rules of phonetic structure, word origins, and spelling, we settle once and for all the ever-present argument of how to pronounce GIF. Join us this week for a fun dive into language. You might be surprised with what you learn!

Black Lives Matter is more than a trendy hashtag. Black Lives Matter is a reaction to some very real challenges the black community faces today and the events in our world that bring into focus how much work still needs to be done. So, if reposting a hashtag is not enough, how can we all become better allies? This week, we are taking the first step and passing the mic.  We are joined by three fantastic and intelligent guest hosts with unique perspectives on how current events are affecting people of color, what misconceptions are out there, how education can help make a change, and what they want you to know about becoming better allies. For more on this topic, also check out our Black History Month episode and our privilege episode.

To lighten the mood this week and take a break, we thought we'd challenge each other to a "How well do you know me" game. Join us to find out how we did and learn some fun facts about us!Be sure to tune in next week for a very important and timely episode.

If you've been listening to us awhile, you already know that we love fictional characters. This week, we take a look at fictional characters that have helped us define who we are. Join us as we each share five fictional characters we relate to and see aspects of ourselves in. And as a bonus, we analyze these character personalities for underlying themes that clue us into truths about ourselves.

Being that our Myers-Briggs and Enneagram episodes have been fan favorites, we thought it was time for another personality assessment episode! We started this week ready to analyze the Big Five personality test. We quickly found, however, that we weren't fans of this test. And in true Caela and Chelsea fashion, being lovers of young adult fiction, we decided to take a detour into the worlds of Harry Potter and Divergent. Join us for our analysis of the Big Five test, our thoughts on the Hogwarts houses, and our Divergent faction picks. Plus, we throw it back to our previous personality episodes and choose our favorite personality metrics of all!

It's been months, and so many of us around the world are still stuck inside. But this forced life change doesn't just have to mark time. What truths does it force us to unearth? How has it brought into focus the things that really matter? How can we use what we have learned in quarantine to make the rest of our lives more meaningful and the world outside our homes a better place? This week, we're doing some soul searching and really unpacking what we've discovered about ourselves in this time. 

We've shared our favorite books before, but now more than ever, it seems time to share our favorite shows! With the world on lockdown, many people are looking for enjoyable ways to pass the days. So this week, we have broken down popular TV shows by streaming service, and we give you our personal recommendations for binge-able entertainment you can find on Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, and Amazon Prime. Find your new favorite show here!

We're taking a trip to Mt. Olympus this week as we unpack the Greek Gods and Goddesses! We're breaking apart the family tree, strengths and weaknesses, personalities, myths, and our own favorites among the bunch. Jake is back again this week for our discussion. Join us to find out all about your favorites and help us pick our "god squad" of our best friends and zombie apocalypse teams!

It's been two years since we first launched The Sapio Files! In that time, we've brought you 72 episodes, 11 guest hosts (4 multi-episode guests), recordings from at least three countries and many states, and lots of fun! In the past two years, we've discussed culture, psychology, history, literature, music, science, math, identity, human relationships, personal development, ethics, altruism, mental health, social constructs, thought experiments, personality metrics, and a whole lot more. Where can a new listener begin? This week, we bring you 72 recaps in 94 minutes! Join us as we test our memory of each conversation we've had over the past two years and get some fun ideas of which episodes to check out or revisit next! As our guest host said, this episode is "nerdy word soup and it's worth every bite!" We're super excited for year three! Thanks for being a part of our listener family!

This week, we thought we'd lighten the mood by playing a fun game of Would You Rather. What we discovered, however, was that this game brought up some deep discussion topics- from morality to values to deeply-held beliefs. Join us on our journey from the light and fluffy to more deeply understanding our minds this week on The Sapio Files. Be sure to check back next week for a very special episode!

When your brain creates the memories that stay with you after some time, what senses does it use? Do we remember most of what we see? Hear? Smell? Taste? Touch? The answer may surprise you. This week, we are taking a look at how our brains process the information around us and use this information to determine what we remember and why. Take a sensory trip with us!

Join us this week for a look at the psychology of colors! What does your favorite color say about you? Why do we associate certain colors with certain emotions? How can people use colors to alter the way they are seen? Our recurring guest host, Jake, is back this week to add a new perspective and to chat with us about colors and their associations! 

Quick! Describe yourself in five words! Most likely, the words you just chose reflect the way that you see yourself and one or more of the identities that you connect with. How do we develop our identities? Is it as simple as which box you check on a demographics survey? Is it based on the work you do and activities you enjoy? Join us this week for a discussion on the ways that we identify ourselves and important things to remember when thinking about the ways that you create your identity.

In the past month, the world has become a place that many of us don't even recognize. With the risk of contracting COVID-19 on the rise, finances tanking, and most of life essentially cancelled, it's no wonder that our mental health is taking a hit. This week, we're discussing this unprecedented issue that brought the world to a standstill. How can we protect not only our physical heath, but our mental health and sanity in this time of illness, social distancing, and quarantines? Join us for this important discussion.

Happy Friday the 13th! It's our 66th episode, and if you're superstitious, those two numbers might make you worry. But have no fear, because this week, we're breaking apart popular superstitions and their origins! Join us as we demystify the most mysterious superstitions and give you our takes on which, if any, we should worry about. Why do we tell actors to break a leg? Why are some people still afraid of black cats? Find out with us!

You may know your love language, and know how to love the people in your life the way they want you to. But do you know how to love when things go wrong? This week, we are digging into the five apology languages with a brand new special guest! How can you be sure that your apologies matter to those you love? We discuss apologies, forgiveness, and moving forward when things get hard this week. Find out your apology language with us!