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One of the Administration's primary goals with the tariff wars seems to be onshoring production jobs. Intuitively, that makes sense. More jobs are almost always better than fewer. However, are these the types of jobs the American economy actually needs and the American workers actually wants? Further, what is the likelihood companies make drastic shifts in their production facilities, understanding President Trump will be gone in less than 4 years? These are great questions which need real answers. In this week's Trading Perspectives, Sam Clement, John Norris and special guest David McGrath discuss the potential for more manufacturing jobs in the economy and wonder whether they are worth the pain.
It started—as these stories so often do—with fatigue. At first, Jace Yawnick simply chalked it up to a busy life and a job requiring frequent travel. But then he noticed something: There were times the fatigue kicked in when he hadn't just gotten off a plane or done anything else particularly strenuous. “Intuitively,” Jace says, “something within me just knew something wasn't right.” Then came the coughing and the back pain. It would be months—and more than one misdiagnosis—before doctors found the problem: Hodgkin lymphoma. As he processed the news of his diagnosis, Jace realized something: Facing cancer was not something he wanted to do by himself. And so, when he started to chronicle his cancer experience online, he was simply looking for catharsis and camaraderie. He got both—along with a community of 700,000-plus followers who've followed his entire journey in hopes of seeing the moment he fulfilled a cherished goal: to ring the bell and declare himself cancer-free. In this episode, Jace talks to Your Stories host Dr. Mark Lewis about what it's like to share your cancer journey with thousands of people, the importance of advocating for yourself, and the role of community when it comes to conquering cancer.
Stepping into a leadership role means shifting your focus from completing tasks to creating results with and through others.It's normal to feel uneasy about leaving behind the responsibilities that once defined and even created your success. You're supposed to stop doing what you enjoyed and what helped you achieve your current position.Intuitively, that may just feel wrong. It may actually even seem like a threat to your credibility.We hear this from the new managers we support all the time.In this week's episode of The Manager Track, Ramona Shaw explains the real challenges and rewards of moving from a doer to a leader. Drawing from her own experience and from coaching over 200 new managers, she offers practical advice on how to embrace your new role even when you feel inclined to hang on to your IC work.In this episode, Ramona covers:- Task Execution vs. People Leadership: Understand the key differences between getting things done and leading people.- Adapting: Learn why stepping back from hands-on work might feel like a loss and learn ways to overcome that feeling.- Practical Strategies: Find everyday tips to adjust your mindset from simply doing to truly leading.If you've jumped into tactical work and avoided the leadership-type things on your to-do list or questioned if you're doing enough as a new leader, this episode is for you.Learn how accepting a bit of discomfort can help you let go and lead more effectively.Check it out HERE.Watch it on YouTube.— RESOURCES MENTIONED —- Learn how to turn your 1-on-1 meetings from time wasters, awkward moments, status updates, or non-existent into your most important and valuable meeting with your directs all week. Learn more at: https://archova.org/1on1-course- Have a question or topic you'd like Ramona to address on a future episode? Fill out this form to submit it for her review: https://ramonashaw.com/ama- Schedule a strategy call with Ramona HERE. - Grab your copy of Ramona's best-selling book 'The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role': amzn.to/3TuOdcP— OTHER EPISODES YOU MIGHT LIKE —- Episode 239 - Delegating: It's actually about managing yourself- Episode 63 3 Tips to Influence Other People's Decisions- Episode 61 From IC to Manager - 4 Main Shifts— WHAT'S NEXT? —Learn more about our leadership development programs, coaching and workshops at archova.org.Grab your copy of Ramona's best-selling book 'The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role': amzn.to/3TuOdcPIf this episode inspired you in some way, take a screenshot of you listening on your device and post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me @ramona.shaw.leadership or DM me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/ramona-shawAre you in your first manager role and don't want to mess it up? Watch our FREE Masterclass and discover the 4 shifts to become a leader people love to work for: www.archova.org/masterclassLove the podcast and haven't left a review yet? All you have to do is go to ramonashaw.com/itunes and give your honest review. Thanks for your support of this show!* Disclaimer: Shownotes may contain affiliate links. That means that I am awarded a small commission for purchases made through them, at no added cost to you.* Disclaimer: Shownotes may contain affiliate links. That means that I am awarded a small commission for purchases made through them, at no added cost to you.
In a world that often prioritizes logic and analysis, how can we cultivate a mindset that is deeply guided by intuition? In this episode, we explore the balance between the right and left brain, uncovering how intuition and inner wisdom can be just as powerful as logic and reason. Drawing upon insights from The Four Agreements, we discuss the impact of self-talk, the power of choosing words of kindness for ourselves, and the transformative nature of sacred self-care. We also dive into the importance of nurturing our well-being on a physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual level—because true alignment begins within. Plus, we reflect on the power of gratitude as a tool for shifting perspectives and deepening our intuitive connection. Tune in for an inspiring conversation on embracing a more heart-centred, intuitively guided way of thinking and living. Have you joined our Facebook Group yet? Come on over and continue the conversation - we would LOVE to see you there!!https://www.facebook.com/groups/deliciouslymotivatedmindset************************************************************************Contact Deliciously Motivated Mindset (Debz and Moira):Follow us on x.com at @DeborahCooper1 and @WellnessMoiraJoin the conversation in our group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/deliciouslymotivatedmindsetEmail us at deliciouslymotivatedmindset@gmail.comThanks for listening and sharing!!
Interview with Tarot Card Reader Lisa Kessler, Author of The Practical Tarot Method: Learning to Read Tarot Cards IntuitivelyContact Jill SylvesterFollow us on IG @jillsylvesterSend us questions or feedback at jill@jillsylvester.comFor more information or to check out our other products: www.jillsylvester.comThanks to Carl Sylvester for production, Jon Grabowski for sound engineering, Michelle Sylvester (@michellesyllvester) for social media output, Tracy Colucci for newsletter creation, and Good Health Hanover Massachusetts for sponsorship. With their support, the TYI podcast is made possible for YOU to gain personal development strategies and live your best life. Thanks for listening!
Today I chat with Iva. Iva gives us insight into living life intuitively and authentically by connecting with your higher self!Iva is a Soul Alignment Mentor passionate to support entrepreneurs, mothers & spiritual seekers with inner healing, self empowerment & soul alignment. Iva believes everyone has the power to live authentically & intuitively. Iva specializes in emotional & spiritual support & wellbeing. She supports clients with connecting to their own intuition and Higher Self/Inner Being/Soul to receive guidance & clarity from within. She believes we all have the answers within us and just need to learn how to listen. She is passionate about supporting people to connect deeper to themselves and feel empowered to live life their unique way. Iva's IG: https://www.instagram.com/8svetliva8/OTD website: https://www.openingthedoorpodcast.com/
Vector Databases for Recommendation Engines: Episode NotesIntroductionVector databases power modern recommendation systems by finding relationships between entities in high-dimensional spaceUnlike traditional databases that rely on exact matching, vector DBs excel at finding similar itemsCore application: discovering hidden relationships between products, content, or users to drive engagementKey Technical ConceptsVector/Embedding: Numerical array that represents an entity in n-dimensional spaceExample: [0.2, 0.5, -0.1, 0.8] where each dimension represents a featureSimilar entities have vectors that are close to each other mathematicallySimilarity Metrics:Cosine Similarity: Measures angle between vectors (-1 to 1)Efficient computation: dot_product / (magnitude_a * magnitude_b)Intuitively: measures alignment regardless of vector magnitudeSearch Algorithms:Exact Nearest Neighbor: Find K closest vectors (computationally expensive)Approximate Nearest Neighbor (ANN): Trades perfect accuracy for speedComputational complexity reduction: O(n) → O(log n) with specialized indexingThe "Five Whys" of Vector DatabasesTraditional databases can't find "similar" itemsRelational DBs excel at WHERE category = 'shoes'Can't efficiently answer "What's similar to this product?"Vector similarity enables fuzzy matching beyond exact attributesModern ML represents meaning as vectorsLanguage models encode semantics in vector spaceMathematical operations on vectors reveal hidden relationshipsDomain-specific features emerge from high-dimensional representationsComputation costs explode at scaleComputing similarity across millions of products is compute-intensiveSpecialized indexing structures dramatically reduce computational complexityVector DBs optimize specifically for high-dimensional similarity operationsBetter recommendations drive business metricsMajor e-commerce platforms attribute ~35% of revenue to recommendation enginesMedia platforms: 75%+ of content consumption comes from recommendationsSmall improvements in relevance directly impact bottom lineContinuous learning creates compounding advantageEach customer interaction refines the recommendation modelVector-based systems adapt without complete retrainingData advantages compound over timeRecommendation PatternsContent-Based Recommendations"Similar to what you're viewing now"Based purely on item feature vectorsKey advantage: works with zero user history (solves cold start)Collaborative Filtering via Vectors"Users like you also enjoyed..."User preference vectors derived from interaction historyItem vectors derived from which users interact with themHybrid ApproachesCombine content and collaborative signalsExample: Item vectors + recency weighting + popularity biasBalance relevance with exploration for discoveryImplementation ConsiderationsMemory vs. Disk TradeoffsIn-memory for fastest performance (sub-millisecond latency)On-disk for larger vector collectionsHybrid approaches for optimal performance/scale balanceScaling ThresholdsExact search viable to ~100K vectorsApproximate algorithms necessary beyond that thresholdDistributed approaches for internet-scale applicationsEmerging TechnologiesRust-based vector databases (Qdrant) for performance-critical applicationsWebAssembly deployment for edge computing scenariosSpecialized hardware acceleration (SIMD instructions)Business ImpactE-commerce ApplicationsProduct recommendations drive 20-30% increase in cart size"Similar items" implementation with vector similarityCross-category discovery through latent feature relationshipsContent PlatformsIncreased engagement through personalized content discoveryReduced bounce rates with relevant recommendationsBalanced exploration/exploitation for long-term engagementSocial NetworksUser similarity for community building and engagementContent discovery through user clusteringFollowing recommendations based on interaction patternsTechnical ImplementationCore Operationsinsert(id, vector): Add entity vectors to databasesearch_similar(query_vector, limit): Find K nearest neighborsbatch_insert(vectors): Efficiently add multiple vectorsSimilarity Computationfn cosine_similarity(a: &[f32], b: &[f32]) -> f32 { let dot_product: f32 = a.iter().zip(b.iter()).map(|(x, y)| x * y).sum(); let mag_a: f32 = a.iter().map(|x| x * x).sum::().sqrt(); let mag_b: f32 = b.iter().map(|x| x * x).sum::().sqrt(); if mag_a > 0.0 && mag_b > 0.0 { dot_product / (mag_a * mag_b) } else { 0.0 } } Integration TouchpointsEmbedding pipeline: Convert raw data to vectorsRecommendation API: Query for similar itemsFeedback loop: Capture interactions to improve modelPractical AdviceStart SimpleBegin with in-memory vector database for
Where does alcohol fit in with intuitive eating? Should you “intuitively” try to drink? What about the health risks vs benefits to alcohol? We're digging into all these questions today with my extra special guest, Casey Davidson, a sobriety coach. The truth is, there are key differences between food and alcohol that you need to be aware of. And there are some special considerations for how you might want to approach drinking differently than you do eating. In this episode, we're going to explore your relationship with alcohol, and help you reflect on the role of drinking in your life. There's zero pressure for you to stop drinking or to explore sobriety, unless you want to (and if you do, Casey has tons of resources for you). Ultimately, this is about listening to your body. And being curious about how alcohol makes you feel - both in the moment, and afterwards. It's also about the reasons you want to drink in the first place and the role of alcohol in your life. There is no right or wrong answer to whether you want to keep drinking or not…This is all about being curious about where you are at with alcohol, and choosing with compassion how you want to move forward. Episode Highlights -Common mistakes that women make with food when they take a break from alcohol -Benefits of sobriety, and Casey's own story -How does alcohol fit in with intuitive eating? Can you intuitively drink? -Next steps if you're sober curious Resources Mentioned - Follow Casey on Instagram - Grab Casey's Free 30 Day Sober Guide - Casey's Website Read the full episode show notes here. Resources for Your Intuitive Eating Journey Intuitive eating education on the blog Work with Katy Explore the self-paced mini-course Stepping Off The Dieting Rollercoaster Connect with Katy Harvey Website: KatyHarvey.net Instagram: @katyharvey.rd Facebook: KatyHarveyRD Subscribe and Review Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts I would be thrilled if you could rate and review my podcast! Your support helps me reach and encourage more people on their intuitive eating journeys. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Don't forget to share what you loved most about the episode! Also, make sure to follow the podcast if you haven't already done so. Follow now!
Coming up on this episode of Flirtations, we're talking to the universe y'all! With our incredible guest, psychic activator and historical medium Emily Dexter, we're connecting to our inner magic and dating intuitively. Have you ever felt like there's a deeper wisdom inside you, just waiting to be heard? Have you ever struggled to trust yourself and connect to your intuition, your inner knowing? Today, we explore what it really means to trust yourself—beyond the noise of fear, doubt, and past experiences. Emily shares how to talk to our spirit guides and how we can talk to the universe, because indeed we're energy, the universe is energy, and we're more intimately connected than you might think. But that's not all. We'll also learn about the Clair senses, how to reconnect with the part of you that knows what's truly best for you, and how to awaken, or reawaken, your inner magic for more clarity and confidence in dating and beyond. So, if you've ever felt a spark of intuition but weren't sure how to follow it—or if you're curious about what it means to awaken to your true self—this episode is for you. Let's get into it, Flirties! Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review Flirtations on your favorite podcast platform, and share this episode to spread BFE - big flirt energy, all over the world! Enjoying the show and want to support my work? Buy the Flirt Coach a coffee! About our guest: Emily Dexter is a Spiritual Translator—a psychic, psychic activator, historical channel, medium, teacher, energy reader, bestselling author, spiritual travel guide, and public speaker. In the past decade, she has worked with thousands of incredible clients and students including award-winning actors, filmmakers, CEOs, Olympic athletes and coaches, world-renowned musicians, NYT Bestselling authors, and people just like you! Links: What's Your Psychic Sense? (free): https://www.emilydexterpsychic.com/discover-your-psychic-sense Book a Soul Reading: https://www.emilydexterpsychic.com/book-a-soul-reading Website: www.emilydexterpsychic.com Social Sites: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/likerofwords Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@likerofwords YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@likerofwords Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/likerofwords About your host: Benjamin is a flirt and dating coach sharing his love of flirting and BFE - big flirt energy, with the world! A lifelong introvert and socially anxious member of society, Benjamin now helps singles and daters alike flirt with more confidence, clarity, and fun! As the flirt is all about connection, Benjamin helps the flirt community (the flirties!) date from a place that allows the value of connection in all forms - platonic and romantic connection - to take center stage and transform lives for greater healing and ultimately, a deeper connection with the self. You can connect with Benjamin on Instagram, TikTok, stream the Flirtations Flirtcast everywhere you listen to podcasts (like right here!), and find out more about working together 1:1 here.
Is there a tiny voice telling you that something needs to change? That there is MORE for you to expand into? If this resonates but you're feeling like the only evidence you have is that little voice...and others might think you're making a big mistake if you DO go explore something new...then the conversation our host Barsi, has with our guest, Brianna Rose CEO, Founder and Creator, of Light Leader collective, INC is going to be the sign you need to lean into that intuitive voice calling YOU.This is a raw and real conversation about the messy and true journey of what it takes to really listen and surrender to expanding into your next level. You don't have to have perfect clarity to begin - you just have to begin.In this episode, you will learn:How to intuitively notice if it's time to expand or create change.How to take messy action.Why being creative in exploring new ways of doing things WILL bring you new results .The importance of slowing down and creating space.How you can learn more about getting started with the FREE ON-DEMAND MASTERCLASS.Links:*Watch the FREE ON-DEMAND MASTERCLASS - ATTUNE*Take the Self-Attunement Audio Course: Embody Your VisionFrom Brianna:Visit: https://www.lightleaderco.com/Apply: Academy of LightIG: @iambriannarosePrevious Episodes on this subject:Awaken Your Kundalini & Ignite Your Success w/ Brianna Rose ep. 110Unlocking Intuition & Shifting Into Alignment ep.128How To Believe In Your Magic ep.97Visit: Boss-Goddess.coPinterest: @bossgoddessbarsiInstagram: @boss_goddess.co*If you haven't followed or subscribed to the show yet on your fave podcast app - please click the little + sign in Apple Podcasts or the "follow" button in your app of choice so you don't have to search for the podcast but instead automatically receive new episodes!If you are an Apple Podcasts listener- it keeps me going to hear from you, so it would be wonderful if you left a written review on Apple Podcasts (located at the bottom of your feed). I can't wait to hear from you! Mentioned in this episode:
In today's episode, listen to Chapter 1: The DJ Is My Guru of my book, "Marinating in Chaos." Wet your appetite + decide if you want to hear the rest of the story. This chapter sets off my raw, real and entertaining personal story of moving beyond societal expectations and embracing an authentic, adventurous life.Order your copy here: https://a.co/d/6IqfVQcBook Description:At 30 I set out on my own twisted Eat, Pray, Love journey - Latin Style where I ended up living as an expat in Mexico for 15 years. This book is part memoir - part roadmap for women who are serious about getting healthy - for good, not just for a season. It is for the women who are tired of feeling tired and deep down know there is an inner fire just waiting to be lit. I take you on a comical, vulnerable and relatable journey from party girl looking to escape negative narratives on replay to empowered wellness leader looking to change how women everywhere view themselves. This book is for all the women who quite simply are ready for something more.This book is a passion project years in the making. It touches on:Personal Growth: Megan's journey from dissatisfaction in her twenties to becoming a wellness leader.Intuitive Living: Learning to listen to your intuition through life-changing experiences.Breaking Norms: Why Megan rejected the conventional career path for a life of adventure and wellness.Culture and Connection*: Insights into Mexican culture and its impact on Megan's journey.Embracing Change: Megan's experiences with travel, relationships, and self-discovery as pivotal growth moments.TLDR: Learn from my radical journey of self-discovery and empowerment. Trust your intuition, redefine your path, and embrace life's unexpected teachers.Thank you for joining us!If you enjoyed this episode, share a screenshot on social media and tag @meganswanwellness. Your support means the world!Connect with Megan Swan http://www.instagram.com/meganswanwellnesshttp://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-swan-wellnesswww.meganswanwellness.comKeywords: intuition, personal growth, breaking norms, Mexican culture, self-discovery, wellness leader, societal expectations, empowerment, travel experiences, life-changing decisions, authentic living, women's empowerment, cultural insight, adventure, inner knowing, transformative journey.
Are you ready to change something up in your existing business or BEGIN a new business or brand that honors your uniqueness, your natural rhythms, creativity and genius...but you're in that exploratory stage? Then this vision board exercise I'm sharing in this episode that leverages Pinterest paired with a journal practice could be a fun a way to explore all of those things!This episode is also for you if you're looking for new ways to market your existing business or future business or brand away from social media, (which can often feel like a hustle) to successfully create optimization there and keep you caught in a constant-content-creation-loop.In this episode, your host Christina Barsi will break down:The basics of Pinterest.Why Pinterest is a search engine & NOT a social media platform.How to use Pinterest as a vision board tool.How to collect resources to take natural next steps in your business using Pinterest.How this exercise will set you up for intuitively marketing your business when you're ready.Links:*Barsi's Pinterest Business Account: @bossgoddessbarsi*Watch the FREE ON-DEMAND MASTERCLASS - ATTUNE*Take the Self-Attunement Audio Course: Embody Your VisionMore useful episodes:3 Tips To Transform Your Day From Defeat To CompleteBEGIN SERIES: How To Connect To Your Inner CompassSeven Questions To Unearth Your TRUEST Path Ep.115Visit: Boss-Goddess.co**Pinterest: @bossgoddessbarsiInstagram: @boss_goddess.co*If you haven't followed or subscribed to the show yet on your fave podcast app - please click the little + sign in Apple Podcasts or the "follow" button in your app of choice so you don't have to search for the podcast but instead automatically receive new episodes!If you are an Apple Podcasts listener- it keeps me going to hear from you, so it would be wonderful if you left a written review on Apple Podcasts (located at the bottom of your feed). I can't wait to hear from you!
Today, I'm sharing a personal story. When I was little, my folks took me to be evaluated by our pediatrician who was also a child psychiatrist....because I was SOOOO "imaginative" Was I a little off-kilter? Or was I gifted? The fact that I saw invisible animals in the backyard… was that delusional or fancifully creative? Come hear this personal story and my own theory that "over-imaginative" kids are actually just intuitive seers. The story is on my podcast and also the youtube channel for your enjoyment! Talked About in Today's Episode: How childhood creativity and imaginary friends can be signs of intuitive gifts. The importance of supporting kids' natural connection to spirit guides, elemental beings, and non-linear ways of knowing. How aligning with love and intuition can guide and protect us. Why imagination is critical as a gateway to intuition and deeper knowing. Encouragement for professional women to embrace their intuitive gifts for real-world solutions and join a supportive community. Unlock Your Genius with Mellissa Seaman: Discover Your Soul Gift: Take Mellissa's free Soul Gift Quiz to uncover which of the five soul gifts is driving your life's purpose. Dive Deeper into Growth: Explore the Channel Your Genius Academy at channelyourgenius.com for personal and professional development resources. Check Out The Wisdom Mastermind: Want to add on private sessions for clearing and clarity each month with master healers for less than $500/month? https://channelyourgenius.com/wisdom-mastermind Resources:
Brielle Brasil is a mama's coach, breathwork facilitator, and somatic trauma resolution therapist. She shares her two birth stories as a foreigner living in the Dominican Republic. Brielle's first birth was an unexpected, traumatic C-section. After putting in the work to heal, Brielle felt ready to explore birth options that she thought were unattainable. She was creative and intuitive throughout the entire process.Julie and Brielle also dive deeper into how trauma is stored in the body, how somatic trauma resolution can help, and why it's important not to try to heal trauma on your own.How to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for ParentsFull Transcript under Episode Details Julie: All right, Women of Strength. You are listening to The VBAC Link Podcast. This is Julie and I am here with a very special guest today, Brielle. I am really excited to hear her stories. She gave birth in the Dominican Republic twice, both her C-section and her VBAC. We were just talking about that because my previous guest who I just recorded with in episode 370 also lived in the Dominican Republic. She had her babies back in the States. She flew back to the States. It was just such a coincidence. I am mind-blown. What are the chances?Brielle: So wild. Julie: I know. Brielle had both of her babies there. I'm so excited to hear about her stories and her experience, but before we do that, I am going to read a Review of the Week that Meagan texted me this morning if I can find it in all of our text messages. Okay, here it is. This review is on Apple Podcasts from janaerachelle. She says, “I am so happy I found this incredible podcast. After having two prior C-sections, I was convinced I would have to have another C-section for my birth this November. I feel empowered, educated, and hopeful I can do this. Thank you for all of the true facts in a safe space where we can all talk about our birth trauma in a space where we don't sound ‘crazy' for doing something that God created our bodies to do.” I love that so much. I think that the birth world is so interesting in lots of different ways and lots of different things. It can be incredibly wild to desire something that can be considered outside of the box. I'm glad that VBAC is becoming more and more common and that we are talking about it more. Sometimes, when I'm so deep in this VBAC world, it can be easy to forget that some people think it is the wildest thing ever. Brielle: Yeah. Absolutely. People in the Dominican Republic for sure fall into that box of, “What? You can actually have a baby vaginally after having a C-section?” People didn't know that was an option.Julie: Yeah. People just don't know. All right, let's get to it. I am so excited to hear your stories. I am really on the edge of my seat right now. Before I have you get into those, I'm just going to introduce you a little bit. This is Brielle. She is a Mama's Coach, breathwork facilitator, and somatic trauma resolution therapist. She helps postpartum and pregnant women heal from their previous birth trauma, forgive themslves, their bodies, their babies, and their previous team so they can go into their next birth confident, free, and in tune with their motherly intuition fully trusting themselves, their bodies, their babies, and birth.I have lots to say about this, but I'm going to wait until the end because I don't want to start going off on too many tangents too soon. But I'm excited. I want to hear more. We will definitely talk about that after the birth stories, and I'm super excited. She lives in Virginia, and we are both commiserating about how things are shifting to the chilly side of the weather today, but I am going to sit here cozy in my blanket while I am listening to Brielle's stories giving birth in the Dominican Republic. Go ahead, Brielle. Take it away, and I am excited to hear. Brielle: Awesome. Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me on here. It's such an honor, and it feels really surreal because I listened to this podcast a ton during my second pregnancy. Yes. I am not Dominican. I am American, and I was a foreigner having both of my babies in a foreign country. As you mentioned about the woman you recorded with earlier, most foreigners who are in the Dominican Republic don't have their babies in the Dominican Republic. I was part of an international community, and my husband was an international teacher. It was just assumed that if you are not Dominican, you are going to go back to wherever your home country was to give birth. Right after that, the fact that I was deciding both pregnancies to give birth there because the most important person for me to have at my birth was my husband and the only way to have him at my birth, because it wasn't a summer baby and he was a teacher. It was an April baby, and then a May baby the next time. The only way to have him there was to have our babies i the Dominican Republic. I'll just start off with the first birth. I went into it very fearful having a baby abroad where the language spoken is not my first language. Spanish is not my first language. It was fearful solely for the fact that I was doing it in a foreign country not even really realizing the fears that I had around birth itself until later. I found a doula, and I really liked her. I didn't know much about the OB/GYNs there. She had recommended a couple of them to me and the one that she had used for her births which were all Cesareans, but she said he was a great doctor and he spoke English fluently. I went to him. I stuck with him. Right away, I didn't feel anything initially wrong. He was very knowledgeable. He was up to date on what seemed like a lot of research. But then as things would progress, he would start to question me asking questions to him which was odd, but at the same time, I was like, “Well, he's fluent in English. I feel comfortable in that regard. My doula recommended him.” It was my first time doing this, I was just going to stick with him. Then at about 37-38 weeks pregnant, I started to get the real red flags. Red flags as in him starting to talk about induction already and I'm only 37-38 weeks pregnant. At that point, I just felt like, “Well, okay.” It was clear to me that these were red flags, but I also felt like I didn't have another option. I felt like at that point I was too far along. It was too late in the game. I had seen him my whole pregnancy. I just needed to stay with him. I had prodromal labor for about a week. During that week, this was weeks 39-40. During that week, I went into that office every other day. It was a lot. We were just a little bit obsessive over the time and the clock and everything. I went in several times. I got three membrane sweeps which were all pretty painful. We were trying to “get things to start naturally” and as natural as possible. I know membrane sweeps aren't really, but we were trying to help things along because I was having that prodromal labor. I would have contractions for hours, and they would stop for hours. Also, my husband and I were trying to have things happen naturally as well, so we were having a lot of sex that last week around the clock. Somewhere, I think, from probably the amount of sex we were having and making sure to go to the bathroom right after, I ended up getting a UTI. I think it was the day before my due date when I started to get sick. I started to get a fever. I started to get a high fever. My husband was like, “We need to go into the doctor.” I didn't want to because I was fearful of knowing what he was going to say. At that point, I didn't feel like I trusted him because of the red flags that were coming up. I begged my husband, “Let's not go. Let's see if it goes away.” We waited 24 hours, and it didn't. He was like, “I don't feel comfortable.” I was like, “I get it. Okay, we'll go.” We went in. Of course, they checked the baby's heart rate which was a little bit high. I just felt pretty much like shit. The fever kept coming and going. Because I had the contractions going on and off, he was like, “We need to get labor underway.” They didn't know yet it was a UTI. They were like, “We need to test and see why you're sick and run labs.” He was like, “I recommend that you go to the hospital and get induced. We will run all of the tests.”He was afraid I had COVID actually, but it wasn't that. He was like, “We just need to run the tests, get you induced, and get this thing going on because that shouldn't be happening.” I didn't know anything about prodromal labor or any of that. I was scared. I was in a foreign country. I just wanted my baby to be healthy. I was like, “Okay, yeah. Let's go.” We all went. I got induced that morning. Looking back on it and having done the healing work I did, I can see that I just wasn't ready. My body wasn't fully ready yet. My baby wasn't ready yet. It was just a rushed timing scenario because I got induced that morning. They did the test. They found that I had a UTI, so they were treating me with antibiotics while pumping me with Pitocin. On and off all day long, my fever would go away, then it would come back, then it would go away, and then it would come back. I would pick up contractions and be in labor. That was hard to deal with when I was sick. I felt zero energy hardly at that point being sick. That was at 9:00 in the morning. I got induced. It went on and off all day. The contractions were doing the same thing all day. They would pick up for a few hours, then they would stop for a long while. What was interesting, I noticed, is that every time my doctor would come into the room to check me, my contractions would completely stop around him. Looking back, I can tell I didn't feel safe with him. I just had past trauma with males. I shouldn't have ever had a male provider personally. I could tell those things in hindsight, but it was just all happening. By the end of the day in the evening, he was like, “You haven't made any progression dilation-wise. The baby's heart rate's really high, so I suggest we go into a C-section.” My husband and I were just like, “Yeah.” Like I said, we wanted our baby to be healthy. We were fearful. We went into C-section, and we had him. I was just numb through the whole experience because I had really desired everything of my first birth to be natural. I actually wanted a home birth my first go around, but I thought it was illegal in the DR because I didn't know there were any midwives. There were no birthing centers in the DR. Nobody I had ever talked to had ever had a home birth in the DR, and I was actually told, and my doula actually thought home birth was illegal because it was so, so, so, so rare in the DR. I was just under the impression that it was illegal, so I didn't plan a home birth. But I tried to plan a hospital birth that would hopefully be as natural as possible. Instead, I got the opposite. I had a lot of the cascade of interventions that I didn't want to have at all. I wanted things to happen spontaneously and to have minimal time in the hospital. I wanted that skin-to-skin right after, and my baby was taken away from me right after he was born which was very traumatic. I had to work really hard to heal all of that. But nonetheless, he was born. He had pooped himself inside of my womb, so there was meconium there. They told me that his cord was wrapped in a way that he couldn't progress, and that's why I wasn't dilating and he wasn't descending. It's like they tried to give me some reasons why that was the right way. It's not that I don't believe that, but in hindsight and after a lot of the healing work I did, I can see why everything went down the path it did because I felt rushed at the end of the day. I felt like that word “induction” was being thrown around so much and I didn't want that. I had to take matters into my own hands and try to do all of the “natural” inductions. Also, at the end of the day, my son was born the week before Semana Fante in the Dominican Republic which is Holy Week which is a huge, huge holiday week, so I did also find out that some of the members of the birth team had plans for Easter week and travel plans, so I knew that there was a bit of a rush from that end which made me feel rushed and just made the whole process one that I needed to heal from in big, big ways. So after I had my son, postpartum was really, really hard. Breastfeeding was hard. Everything was hard. I realize everything was so hard not only because I was a new mom and didn't have the support I needed, but because my birth was incredibly traumatic– and I didn't think of it that way at first because I was like, “My son is born. He is healthy.” But then 6 months after I had my son, I was still having physical pain at my scar site. I got it checked out. Nothing medically or physically was wrong with it, but what I know being in the line of trauma work that I do is that our body holds trauma, and everything is connected physically and emotionally within our bodies and within ourselves. About 6 months after I had him, I was still having that pain. I decided to work on my birth trauma. I worked on it from all different levels. I worked on it from the physical level. I started seeing an osteopath who I worked with for the next several months. Within a matter of weeks, a lot of the pain was gone. I also started working on it with a traumatic somatic trauma coach who is also a birth attendant. I found her because she was in the same trauma certification group that I went through. I worked with her for 6 months to heal everything from that birth and all of the trauma that it caused to forgive myself, to forgive my baby, to forgive my team, to feel safe again in my body, to feel at peace, to feel at home in my body, to connect back to my body, to connect to my baby, and just a number of things that we did together somatically and through breathwork to really peel back all of the layers of my birth, and not just my birth, but all of the births that came before me in my lineage to heal and heal deeply. It was a big, big work that we did together. It was not a small undertaking, but I will say that I feel. I feel that the work that I did to heal my first birth spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically was the best catalyst I could have had on my side for my next pregnancy and my next birth. So I got pregnant in August of 2022, or sorry, 2023. It's interesting because I had thought about home birth the first time, and because of the timing, we were again going to have our baby in the DR. Is home birth a thing there? Sure enough, you put it out in the universe, and I started to meet people who were having home birth, mostly foreigners who were having home births in the DR. I think three, which was huge because before, I had not even heard of it. I was like, “Wow, okay. This is happening here. This is allowed here. This is legal here. What are you guys doing? What are you guys going through?” I started getting the right contacts of the right people and found out that there is a midwife in Fountaindomingo, one. I met with her. I was so excited because I was like, “This is great. She gets to be my midwife.” Then she told me that her dad was sick at the time, and she was going to be helping him. She told me, “I'm not going to be working during the time of your due date.” I was like, “Okay, so we just need to look at other options.” Right off the bat, everything I did for my second pregnancy was a 360 from my first one. With my first one, I was like, “Okay, it's this one guy. It has to be.” I was very narrow because I was scared.With the second one, I was like, “Okay, it's not her. I'm going to keep my options open. I'm going to keep my mind open. We'll find someone.” My husband just did a Google search of traveling midwives in the US. We had a call with my midwife, Brittany, who is from Texas. Right after the Zoom call, I looked at my husband. I was crying because I felt such a connection with her. I was like, “She's it. She's the person who has to be at my birth. I feel so safe with her. I feel so seen and supported. She's everything I would look for in someone to deliver my baby. She's both nurturing and has a calming presence, but she's also direct and not going to sugarcoat things. I need a beautiful blend of both.” I was really excited. We ended up signing a contract with her, and in the meantime, I got my prenatal care from an OB/GYN office throughout my pregnancy, and of course, to have a backup option in place. I switched OB/GYNs three times this pregnancy, and the last time I switched, I think, was as late as 32 weeks pregnant. I had been with the second gal. The first two OB/GYNs I was with– they were all women– were from recommendations from the midwife who wouldn't be working during my birth. She had recommended the first two. The first one, I loved, but she wasn't fluent in English, so neither one of us felt comfortable in terms of communication and being able to fully communicate when it comes to birth. I was bummed, but that one didn't work out. I went to the second one she recommended. This one was a lot more fluent in English. I could communicate with her fine, and she was direct, but her bedside manner was so direct that she didn't have that calming and nurturing confidence. She was confident, but she didn't have the calming, nurturing side that I also wanted. She said a couple of things that didn't vibe very well with me. It was so direct that it was hurtful. At 32 weeks, I was like, “You know what, babe? I love my first choice for my team, but if something happens, I don't love my second choice.” I was determined. I just kept looking, and through one of the girls who had a home birth, she had heard of the woman that I went to as my third option. She had recommended, “If you decide to have it in the hospital, here are a couple of people I have heard good things about through friends.” I went to this woman, Lini Capalon, from 32 weeks. I didn't tell her I was planning a home birth. I decided not to tell her. I told the second lady. She had gotten a little iffy about it because it's not illegal there, but again, it's so uncommon there that it's hard for them to wrap their head around it basically. I'll put it that way.With the third woman, I didn't tell her, but she knew I wanted to have a VBAC. She had done a number of VBACs herself, and she had told me before I even started talking to her, she was like, “Look. We want this birth to be as natural as possible for your highest chance at VBAC.” She was like, “You need to go into labor spontaneously. We don't want to interfere at all. I don't want to interfere with you. I don't want to give any interventions.” She was like, “You can go until you're 42 weeks and 3 days before we'll then talk about induction.”I was floored because I didn't think this existed in an OB/GYN in the DR. First of all, that they're doing VBAC, and secondly, that they're for it. We were talking about this, Julie, a little bit before we hopped on that the C-section rate in the Dominican Republic is 90%. 9-0 in private hospitals, and public hospitals are really, really not great. If you have the choice, you wouldn't want to birth in a public hospital. You are already going into a private hospital with a 90% chance of a C-section.Julie: That is so wild. It is so wild. Brielle: Yeah. Yep. Yeah. I learned that through the midwife who was in Santo Domingo. Julie: Well, and I almost wonder if the 10% who are not Cesareans are the ones who go so fast or are on accident. Do you know what I mean? Brielle: Yeah. Yeah. Or just everything progresses, I don't want to say normally, but quickly.Julie: Quickly, yeah.Brielle: Quickly. You're not “late” at all. I did have a friend who actually had a vaginal birth in the DR about a month after me. That was very hard for me as well and very triggering because she also had the same doctor as me the first go-around.Julie: Oh no. That's hard.Brielle: That was a big part of my healing journey too. But yeah, her water broke. She went into labor. She progressed quickly and had the baby. There was not anything out of the “norm”. Anyway, that's how it needs to happen if you're going to have a chance. The fact that I had found her, then she was pro-VBAC and had VBAC experience was really rare because I was also saying that VBACs are unheard of in the DR. After I had my second baby, people were like, “What? You had your baby vaginally? Didn't you have a C-section before?” They didn't know that was possible.I went with her for my backup option. Then, here we go. I was 38 weeks and 5 days pregnant. My midwife is scheduled to come. She has her flight booked for the day before my due date. I'm still 10 days out before she's supposed to come. I lose my mucus plug, and I have my bloody show. Of course, I message her. She's like, “Well, here's the thing. You could go into labor anytime now. It could be tomorrow, and it could be 2 weeks from now. We just don't have any way to predict that.” I was like, “Okay, cool. Great.” But another thing that I had worked largely on this pregnancy and a big reason why I kept changing OB/GYNs and a big reason why I said no to a lot of things during my pregnancy and started speaking my voice is because I found my intuition or re-found it, and really listened to it every step of the way. Any time anything felt the slightest bit off, I was like, “Nope. We're not doing that.” It took an incredible amount of tuning everything out, tuning out all of the noise and opinions and everything that's out there and really just listening within. After that happened, I lost my mucus plug. She wasn't supposed to come for 10 days. She tells me, “It could be tomorrow. It could be 2 weeks.” I slept on it, and then the next day, I was like, “Brittany, I think you need to get here sooner. When's the soonest you can come?” This was Friday. She was like, “I can come this Sunday in two days.” I was like, “Great. Can you change your flight?” She was like, “Yeah. Can you pay the difference?” I'm like, “Yeah, that's fine.” She changes her flight to Sunday. Her Airbnb was on the street that I live on. She gets to her AirBnB at 3:00 PM on Sunday. That night, I had about three or four days of prodromal labor before that. That night, at 7-8:00 PM is when I finally started having regular contractions, and my water broke that night at about 11:00 PM the day that she got there. Julie: Your baby was waiting. They just knew. Brielle: They knew. I knew. I was like, “You've got to get here sooner.” Baby Alana was waiting. Everything was happening in perfect timing. I told her that my water broke. She came over. Labor started. My contractions were regular. I let my husband sleep because I also didn't know how long it was going to be because I had prodromal with this one too. I had it for a week before. I'm like, “I don't really know for sure if it's the real thing. I'm going to let him sleep for now. He supposedly has to work tomorrow, but we'll see.” Things were regular, active, and intense all night long. He ended up waking up at 4:00 AM and coming up and setting up the birthing tub at that point. I didn't know if I wanted a water birth or not, but I knew I wanted to have it as a comfort option and I wanted the option should I want to birth in there when the time came. So he set up the tub, and my doula came over. I had pretty intense contractions until Monday morning. Our nanny came over because my son, my 2.5-year-old was just 2 at the time, he woke up and he had school. She was getting him ready for school. He woke up, and even though the nanny was with him, that slowed my contractions down a little bit because it's hard when your son's not there to be in mom mode somewhat. Things slowed down a little bit while he was getting ready for school. He went to school. I was feeling a little frustrated because things had slowed down. My husband was like, “Let's go outside. Let's go for a walk.” We left the apartment. We went for a walk. My husband had me doing squats which I wish in hindsight I had reserved that energy. I didn't know how long labor would go on. I was hunched over. Cars were stopping, “Are you okay?” as we were walking down the street and people were on their way to work because things were picking up again.I'm like, “Okay, I think we need to get back to the apartment.” He helped me. We get back to the apartment. We get back inside. Things got really intense again. It was Monday morning. I'm in and out of the birthtub. I'm on the birth ball listening to HypnoBirthing tracks using my breath. I'm a breathwork facilitator, so it wasn't hard for me to tune into different breath patterns that were feeling good and supporting the intensity of everything. Monday afternoon came. My son got off to school. He came home. The same thing happened. They slowed down a bit while he got lunch and got ready for his nap. He went for his nap, then things really picked up. My midwife knew I didn't want to be checked because of the whole thing before of, “You're 1 centimeter,” and a week later, “You're 1.5 centimeters. You're not progressing,” type thing. I knew I didn't want to be checked, but I think she could tell by the intensity and by the look in my eyes that I must be close to needing to push.She said, “I know you don't want to be checked, but do you mind if I check you and not tell you the number just to see where things are at?” This was Monday afternoon. I'm like, “Sure, that's fine.” She checked me. I was like, “You can tell my husband where I'm at, and he can decide if I should know.She checked me, and then a bunch more of my water gushes out, and then she blurts out, “You're fully dilated. You're ready to push.” I was like, “Really? That's awesome. Great. Sounds great to me.” It had been a little over 12 hours at this point. I was like, “Okay.” But I also told her, “Really? I don't feel the urge to push. I don't feel like I need to push.” She explained to me that VBAC patients sometimes don't feel that urge. That's possible that you might not feel the urge. I was like, “Okay.” I leaned on her a little bit more for what positions to try and stuff like that and the actual mode of how to push because again, it wasn't coming naturally. It wasn't coming instinctively because I didn't feel that urge. For the next, I think, 4 or 5 hours, I pushed at home. I pushed in the tub. I pushed out of the tub. I pushed on my bed. I pushed on the floor. I pushed in kneeling, hands and knees. You name the position. I feel like I probably tried it. I was absolutely exhausted because, of course, I didn't sleep the night before. Eating was hard. I wasn't getting what I needed nutritionally to keep up energetically with how long the labor was getting and how long the pushing was getting, but I also didn't want to eat. I felt like I couldn't get hydrated. I was exhausted. There were a number of times I looked at my husband, and I looked at my doula, “I can't do this anymore.” They were encouraging me, “Yes, you can.” I got on my hands and knees and prayed. I was listening to my tracks. I had my crystals that I work with, and I'm just talking to my spirit guides and all of this stuff. After 4 or 5 hours, I was beat. I was so defeated. I was beat. My midwife was like, “Why don't we give it a rest for a little bit?” She was intermittently checking our baby's heart rate and checking me. All of that was fine. The baby was fine. I was fine the whole time, so she kept saying, “Both of you are fine. You can stay here longer. There is no rush because both of you are fine. There is no need to go to the hospital if you don't want to. If you want to, that's an option, and it's fine.” I was like, “No. I'm just going to take a break from pushing, and try to rest.” Of course, I'm in active labor, so trying to rest is hard, but I just stopped with trying to push for a couple of hours, then it was getting into Monday night. My son had gone to bed for the night. It had been a few hours of this “resting”, but really intense contractions, and she asked me, “Do you want me to check you again? Do you not? Just to see what's going on. I don't know what's happened.” She checked me.She said, “I have bad news.” I was like, “Okay, give it to me, I guess.” She explained to me that there are two layers of the cervix, the outer and the inner. When she had checked me before I pushed for that 4 or 5 hours, she realized she could only feel one layer. The layer that she felt was fully dilated, but then when she was checking me this time Monday night, she was feeling the other layer, and it wasn't fully dilated. It was around a 7. She said that was why our baby– she had been sitting so low for this whole time. She was there, but couldn't get around that other layer which is why the pushing wasn't really doing anything to get her out. I was like, “Okay.” It was hard to hear, but also kind of relieving to hear in a way because I was like, “Well, I just did all of that work for nothing? What?” That's what it felt like, but then it also felt like, “Okay, well, at least there is a reason why I was pushing, and it wasn't happening. It just wasn't.” I trusted the timing. I was so trusting in this birth. I was so trusting of the timing. I was so trusting of my baby. I was so trusting of my body and myself. I had done so much work around that to trust myself. I was like, “Okay.” I rested some more. Everything was fine. I continued to labor at home until about midnight. I was in the birthing tub, and at about midnight, I started to feel absolutely terrible, just incredibly weak. I had now been up for over two days and had two nights with no sleep. The four days before that was bad sleep because it was prodromal labor. My body was really exhausted. I was emotionally exhausted and mentally exhausted in every way.It was midnight. I was going through the second night now. I was just like, “Guys, I don't feel well. I feel really bad.” She checked my vitals. Everything was fine. I was like, “I feel like my blood pressure was really low. I felt like I was going to pass out.” She was like, “Have you eaten any protein today?” I had eaten a lot of carbs and was staying hydrated. I was like, “No, I guess not.” She was like, “Let's try some protein.” I absolutely didn't want that, but my husband was force-feeding me a ton of chicken. My husband does acupuncture as a side thing. I was like, “Can you give me acupuncture to progress things or help with this terrible feeling I have to give me some energy?” He did acupuncture on me. He was force-feeding me chicken. Right after that, I got back in the birthing tub. I projectile vomited everywhere. After I threw up, I was like, “Oh, I feel better now.” It was so bizarre. I was going through a whirlwind at this point. I was like, “I feel better. I feel like I can continue now.” This was midnight now. My midwife said, “Okay, you can continue.” I continued the next four hours in and out of the tub, on the birthing ball. My husband was asleep at this point. My doula had to leave because her daughter was sick. I'm dozing off in the tub between every contraction which was only every 15 seconds because I was so tired, then the contractions would come. They'd be level 100, insane intensity. They'd be a minute and a half, then I'd get to fall asleep for 15 seconds then wake back up and do it again, and do it again on repeat for 4 or 5 hours. Then it's 4:30 AM. I know it's getting close to rush hour. There's a lot of traffic during rush hour in Santo Domingo. If we tried to go to the hospital during rush hour, it probably would have taken us 2, maybe 3 hours to get there. I told my midwife at 4:30 AM, “Can you check me?” She checked me, and that same layer was still at a 7. It was maybe a 7.5. I told her, “I'm ready to throw in the towel.” What I meant by that was, “I'm ready to surrender to this process,” which means I'm not going to do it here at home anymore. Intuitively, that felt very right to me to go. It was time to try something different. I had been home for 35 hours at labor. We had worked with everything that was there. I had all of my tools that I had, and I felt like something needed to change.Julie: You were so tired. You worked so hard for so long. An exhausted body is just exhausted and not effective at laboring.Brielle: No, not at all.My midwife and my husband packed up my bag. My midwife ended up having to stay at our house because my son was sleeping. Our nanny couldn't get there until 6:00 or 7:00 AM. My doula, her kid was sick, and she had to go home. My husband and I had to go to the hospital. The next two hours were insane. Once I decided I was going to the hospital, I basically had no breaks in my contractions. The time that they were packing my bags, and then we were going down to the car and driving to the hospital which was quick because there was no traffic at 5:00 AM. Those 15 minutes, we thought we were going to have the baby in the car. At this point, I was having zero breaks. The intensity was through the roof. We walk into the hospital. My husband has to do paperwork, so I'm all by myself. I'm just roaring like a lion at this point. I'm barreled over. This is so intense. I don't have my tub or my ball or anything at this point. I didn't have any pain relief medically, but I didn't even have the things I had at home to help me. I'm just barreled over and roaring and screaming and super primal. My doctor finally showed up. He finishes the paperwork. That whole thing was probably 2 hours of me not having any type of relief, really, just to get to the hospital. That was the toughest part, I think.Then my OB/GYN, Leni, comes in. She checks me, and she's like, “You're fully dilated. You're ready to push.” She didn't know I had been at home. She didn't know everything that was going on and that I was planning a home birth. I said, “I am not pushing this baby out right now.” I said, “I pushed at home for 5 hours. I've been in labor for 35 hours. I haven't slept in 3 days. I projectile vomited everything.” I'm not saying this. I was huffing and puffing through this, but I looked at her, and I'm just like, “Give me an epidural now. I'm not doing this anymore.” She was like, “Technically, we're not supposed to. You're fully dilated.” She was like, “Okay, all right. We'll get you the epidural.” They wheeled me up. They gave me the epidural. My husband didn't go into the room with me. I thought I was just getting the epidural in this room, but it was the birthing room. I didn't know because I hadn't done the full tour of things beforehand. I mean, I did a little bit, but I didn't put it together at the time where I was getting the epidural. I thought I was going to have a break to take a nap. I was going to get the epidural, then I was going to take a nap, then I was going to push the baby out. That's not how it went. They were like, “All right, whenever you feel the next contraction.” I'm like, “No, I can't. Where's my husband? My husband's not here.” They were like, “It's hospital policy. Nobody can be in here with you.” I was like, “What?”Julie: No.Brielle: Yeah. I lost my shit. I lost my shit. I am like, “Absolutely not. Get him in here now! I'm not doing this without him. He's been here every minute beside me for the last 35 hours, but also for the last 7 years of my life. I'm not doing this without him.” They were all looking at each other, like, “Look, when it gets close and when he is crowning, we will bring him in.” I was like, “Okay,” so I pushed when the contractions came. I was surprised I could still feel the contraction, but after the epidural, thank God. It was what my body needed at that point. I was like, “Thank you for modern medicine. There is a reason it exists.” But after 30 minutes of pushing, they just randomly asked me, “Do you have a doula?” I didn't say anything about my actual doula, but I said, “My husband is my doula. Get him in here.” They were like, “Okay, okay. We're going to bring him in now.” They brought him in. He started coaching me like a drill sergeant or a CrossFit coach or something, but he was like, “Just do it!” He knew me so well, and he knew in that moment that I wanted a VBAC so badly, and he also knew everything I had been through that previous 35 hours. He knew we needed to do this. He knew we needed to get on with it. He was coaching me and basically screaming at me. It was exactly what I needed in that moment. After he came in, 30 minutes later, I pushed her out. She was born. They brought her to my chest. Everything my OB/GYN told me, she stuck by her word. She was like, “You will have skin-to-skin. You will have that hour.” They asked me, “Can we take her to do x, y, and z?” I was like, “No, not yet. Don't take her yet.” They did the things they needed to while she was on top of me. Everything they had promised, they fulfilled. That, I feel like, was why I just felt intuitively really good about both options, my first option and my backup option. I went with that, and it was exactly the way it was supposed to be. Julie: Yeah, I love that. I think being able to trust is such an important thing in the birth space, being able to trust yourself, your care team, your partner, all of your different options, your birth location, and all of that is just so connected to how our bodies can work and trust that process, and yeah. That was great. So good. Brielle: Yeah, that was a huge part of my experience. It was learning to trust myself, the timing, my baby, and my body fully. Healing my experience and just following my intuition completely.Julie: Yeah, I love that so much. Do you want to talk a little bit more about what you did to prepare with the breathwork and the somatic trauma work? I mean, did you get into that before or after? I'm assuming before because your baby is pretty young. How old is your baby now?Brielle: My baby was 5 months the other day. In between pregnancies, and I was not pregnant. I was 6 months postpartum from the first one that I started doing it personally for myself. Do you mean as a practitioner when I got into the work? Julie: Mhmm. Brielle: As a practitioner, I got into this work 5-6 years ago. I was already facilitating breathwork and coaching people for trauma, but not birth trauma. I had gotten my trauma resolution coaching certification and my trauma-informed breathwork certification before I ever had kids. I was really excited to get to use my breathwork and all of my tools and everything for my first birth, but that ended up going a completely different way. I did still use it, but it looked a lot different than I thought it would. I got into this work. I was coaching people on their trauma through a somatic way. Basically, trauma lives in the cells of our body, and it stays in the cells of our body unless we somatically move it through our physiology. There are two major ways we can do that. One is through a type of somatic coaching that I do, and the other is through breathwork. They are both somatic practices, but one is using the breath in a very intentional and activating way to help move that trauma through our cells and out. The other one is using a very hands-on– they are both body-based, but one is more of a visualization. I take you through an experience where you are feeling where things are living in your body. Basically, you are attuning to where there are certain activations in your body as I take you through a lived, traumatic experience. We are finding where that trauma lives in your body with a somatic coaching so I'm able to use a lot of tools to help you visualize it and then move that out.Then with breathwork, it's similar, but we are using the breath. The breath is automatically going to the spaces energetically where the trauma is living to help move it out.Julie: Yeah. I love that. I love that so much. It reminds me. I've done a lot of therapy work. My therapist would ask. I've done lots of group therapy, individual sessions, and all of the things. One of my therapists who would lead our group sessions would say, “What do you feel and where are you feeling it?” We would take turns identifying what in their body needs to be addressed. You've got to describe it. What does it feel like? Does it have a sensation or a taste or a smell? Is it heavy or is it light? Does it have a color? Where in the body is it?I hated it, to be honest. It was the worst thing ever. Brielle: It's really deep.Julie: It's crunchy. Yeah. It's deep, and you have to be comfortable getting uncomfortable, and reaching and stopping and being in tune with your body. I hated it so bad for a very long time, but even now, I don't do those group sessions or anything or anymore. Every once in a while, I'll scan my body. “Okay, what do I feel and where am I doing it?” I try to get my kids to do it, and they're like, “I don't know what the freak you mean, Mom.” They're still young, but I know what you are talking about with that work. What is it? Moving it out, how to release it. That's so important. Brielle: It's so great. It transcends as I work with a client. They feel it. They see it in a certain way. It has textures, colors, and shapes, and we stay with it. We don't stay with it beyond the point that they feel they can stay with it. If that's super uncomfortable for them, we go back to our resource which I do at the beginning of the session.I'm not taking them through an experience in a way that is beyond their capacity to move through it. The body won't ever take them through something that they don't feel ready to handle. I think that's really important to specify because if you're just talking about this work and you have never heard of it, that can sound really scary.It is deep work, but at the same time, because of my trainings and with breathwork as well being trauma-informed, I never take a client to a place that their body is not actually physiologically ready to go into. Julie: Yeah, that's really important. It's such an intuitive thing. You talked a lot about intuition too. One thing I wanted to say before we close out the episode is that you mentioned earlier in the episode about learning to forgive yourself. That was something I don't think we talk about a lot or think about a lot, but it's something that I had to go through as well after my C-section. My thing was forgiving myself for not knowing what I didn't know going into my birthIt can sound kind of silly. What do I need to forgive myself for? But sometimes, we focus a lot on forgiving others in the situation and our team or our partner or whatever, but we don't often direct that inward. I think that's such an important part to give yourself grace and mercy and love and forgiveness and go through and not judge yourself too harshly or hold yourself to an unrealistic standard especially when you didn't have the information then that you have now.So I think that's an important part of the process as well.Brielle: That's a big amount of the work I do with my clients as well is that self-forgiveness piece and really forgiving their bodies because a lot of them feel like, “My body failed me or my body is broken.” That was a lot of work I had to do myself personally after my first birth to realize, “No, my body didn't fail me. My body's not broken. Nothing was wrong with me.” But if we don't do that forgiveness work for your body to yourself, that trauma is still going to be living in ourselves and still expecting. I'm not going to say it's going to give you a repeat experience, but we're still having that physiological presence where like attracts like. That's still in there. That's still the drawing factor of something that your body is expecting. It's still holding that past experience.Julie: Right. Yep. That makes a lot of sense. I encourage everybody to do the work, but also, I think's important to mention this a little bit is to find somebody trusted that you can do it with. It's important to not dig too deeply into past traumas or things like that unless you have a solid support around you like a therapist, any mental health professional, an energy worker or people like that to help guide you through it so you don't get too deep into things that you are not prepared to handle or heal.Brielle: Absolutely. That's what I do as well through the lens of breathwork and somatic coaching. Julie: So where can people find you?Brielle: Yeah, it's definitely not something I recommend doing on your own. Have somebody to hold that space for you who knows what they're doing. People can find me on Instagram. It's just my name at Brielle Brasil. Brasil is with an S. You can reach out through there, and that's where I'll be.Julie: Perfect. We'll link that information in the show notes for anybody who wants to go give her a follow as well.All right, well thank you so much for sharing your story. I really appreciate it.Brielle: Thank you so much. Julie: It's so cool to hear your story and your journey and your process. Thanks for being here. Brielle: Awesome. I appreciate you. Thank you so much. It was an honor.ClosingWould you like to be a guest on the podcast? Tell us about your experience at thevbaclink.com/share. For more information on all things VBAC including online and in-person VBAC classes, The VBAC Link blog, and Meagan's bio, head over to thevbaclink.com. 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Housing in the United States has come to be known as a panacea problem. Gone are the days when tossing the graduation cap meant picking up the keys to a front door, and the ripple effects of unaffordable housing stretch across society: poor social mobility, smaller families, worse retirement-readiness, just to name a few.Today on Faster, Please — The Podcast, I talk to Bryan Caplan about the seemingly obvious culprit, government regulation, and the growing movement to combat it.Caplan is a professor of economics atGeorge Mason University. His essays have been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and TIME Magazine. He is editor and chief writer of theBet On It Substack, and is the author of several books, including Build, Baby, Build: The Science and Ethics of Housing Regulation.In This Episode* America's evolving relationship with housing (1:31)* The impact of regulation (3:53)* Different regulations for different folks (8:47)* The YIMBY movement (11:01)* Homeowners and public opinion (13:56)* Generating momentum (17:15)* Building new cities (23:10)Below is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation. (Note: This was recorded just before the presidential election.)America's evolving relationship with housing (1:31)The main thing that changed is that we've seen a long-run runup of housing prices. Pethokoukis: What was going on with housing prices and housing affordability from the war to the 1970s? Was it kind of flattish? People were recovering from the Great Depression; what was going on then?Caplan: Yeah, it was quite flat, so there were decades where we had rapidly expanding population, the Baby Boom, and markets were working the way that markets normally do: You get demand going up, raises prices in the short run, but then that means the prices are above the cost of production, and so you get entry, and you build more until prices come back down to the cost of production. That's the way markets are supposed to work!I don't know how people thought about their homes in the late '40s, '50s, and '60s, but did they view them as, “This is our primary investment,” or did they view them more as a place to live? Were there any expectations that this was their retirement plan?I honestly don't know. I don't remember reading anything about that. I grew up in Los Angeles where in the '70s and '80s people already had some sense of, “Your home is an important retirement vessel,” but it is plausible that when you are going back to earlier decades, people did have a different view.I've often heard Americans say that Japanese don't think about their homes as retirement vessels, but I've never talked to anyone in Japan to assure me this is so, so I don't know.But that scenario changed.It did.How did it change and are we confident we know why it changed?The main thing that changed is that we've seen a long-run runup of housing prices. Depending upon what series you're looking at, the runup might be starting in the early '70s or the early '80s, but in any case, there was what economists would call a structural break where a series that was generally flat over the long term started rising over the long term. There have been a few times when prices fell back down, like after the Great Recession, but now, inflation adjusted, we are higher than the peak right before the Great Recession.Now, is that the same as affordability? Because I assume incomes could be going up, so has it outpaced median income over that period?Probably not, although it's in the right ballpark, and maybe.One thing you can say is, well, there's regulation before, there's regulation after, so how can you go and blame the rise on the regulation?The impact of regulation (3:53)I would like to blame regulation. Intuitively, that makes sense to me, but I suppose we need more than intuition here.. . . there's a lot of regulation almost everywhere a lot of people live.I would say that we do have very good evidence that regulation is indeed to blame. If you look at it very quickly, you might say, “Well, there was regulation before; it didn't seem to matter that much.” The answer to this really was death by a thousand cuts, where we just piled regulation on regulation, but also where regulations that have been interpreted mildly before started being interpreted strictly afterwards.How do we know that it really is regulation? The easiest thing to do is just to look at the strictness of regulation in different parts of the country, and you can see that there are some places that are crazy strict and the prices are crazy high. There's other places where the regulation is a lot lighter and even though they're getting plenty of population increase, they nevertheless do not have these long-run rises.So the contrast between the Bay Area and the Texas Triangle is very strong. So these are both areas that, in some sense, they are growth areas, a lot of tech there, but the Bay Area has seen very little rise in the amount of housing and massive increase in prices, whereas Texas has, in contrast, seen a large rise in the number of houses and very low rises in the price of housing.The main method that economists have used in order to disentangle all this is it really starts with trying to figure out: What is land that you are not allowed to build anything on worth? So just think about whatever your excess land is in a single-family area, you're not allowed to put another structure there, you can put a volleyball court or something like that. So you just find out, well, what is land where you can't build anything worth? And usually, even in a good area, that land is not worth much. If you can't build on it, it's like, I guess we can put some grass, but that's not that good. Then the next step is to just go to a construction manual and to see what the cost of construction is in a given area and then compare it to the price. This is a quite reasonable approach and it has gotten better over time because data has gotten better.The main thing is that Joe Gyourko, who's been working on this for about 20 years, in his last big paper, he got data on actual vacant lots, and so you can see, this is a vacant lot, usually because you just can't build anything on it, can't get the permission, and as a result of this, he's also able to find out, how bad does the regulation get as you move away from the city center. We've got details like Los Angeles looks like it's regulated out to the horizon. You've got 50 miles away from downtown LA and it's still pretty bad regulation. On the other end, a city like Chicago is very regulated in the downtown, but 30 miles out, then there's not that much effect anymore.The punchline of all this work is that there's a lot of regulation almost everywhere a lot of people live. If you want to go and build a skyscraper in the middle of nowhere in Kansas, you could probably do it, but you wouldn't want to build a skyscraper in the middle of nowhere in Kansas, that defeats the whole purpose of building a skyscraper.That leads to two questions: The first question is, just to be clear, when we're talking about regulation, is it single-family homes versus multifamily? Is it also the coding, what the home has to be made out of? Do the walls have to be so thick, or the windows? What are we talking about?The honest answer is that most economists' estimates are just giving you an estimate of all regulation combined with a considerable agnosticism about what actually are the specific regulations that matter. There are other papers that look at specific kinds of regulation and come up with at least very credible claims that this is a big part of the puzzle.The main things that matter a lot in the US: We've got height restrictions — those matter in your biggest, most expensive cities; you can just look at a place like Central Park or get a helicopter shot of San Francisco and say, don't tell me you can't build more stuff here. There's endless room to build more stuff here as long as you can go vertically.It's also very standard to say that you are only allowed to have single-family homes in most residential land in the US, it's just zoned single family only, so you just are not legally allowed to squeeze in a larger number of dwellings.Then you've got, even with single-family regulation, it's very standard to have minimum lot sizes, which just says that you've got to have at least like an acre of land per house, which, whenever I'm speaking in metric countries, I'm always telling, what is that . . .? It's a lot. It's a lot of land, and the amount of land that's normally required has gone up a lot. One-acre zoning in the past would've seemed crazy. Now plenty of places have five-acre zoning. You could obviously just squeeze way more houses in that space. And what is clear is that builders normally build the absolute maximum number they're allowed to build. Anytime someone is going up to the very border of a rule, that is a strong sign the rule is changing behavior.Different regulations for different folks (8:47)Very rarely did someone sit around saying, “You know what's great about Texas? Our lack of housing regulation.”Why are these rules different in different places? That may be a dumb question. Obviously San Francisco is very different from Texas. Is the answer just: different places, different people, different preferences? Do we have any idea why that is?Matt Kahn, who is based in Los Angeles, he's been I think at UCLA and USC, he's got a very good paper showing, at least in California, it's the most progressive left-wing places that have the worst regulation, and it just seemed to be very philosophical. On the other hand, I spent a lot of time during Covid in Texas. Very rarely did someone sit around saying, “You know what's great about Texas? Our lack of housing regulation.” It's not so much that they are opposed to what's going on in California, it just doesn't occur to them they could be California.In a way, you might actually get them to be proud about what they're doing if you could remind them, “Oh, it's really different in California,” and just take them on a tour, then they might come back and say, “God bless Texas.” But it's more of, there's the places where people have an ideological commitment to regulation, and then the rest of the country is more pragmatic and so builders are able to get a lot more done because there just aren't fanatics that are trying to stop them from providing the second most basic necessity for human beings.Now, this is all striking because the YIMBY [Yes In My Backyard] movement, and my book Build, Baby, Build — I definitely think of that as a YIMBY book. My goal is to make it the Bible of YIMBY, and it's in comic book form, so it's a Bible that can be read by people starting at age five.In any case, the YIMBY movement is definitely left-coded. People that are in that movement, they think of themselves as progressives, usually, and yet they are just a small piece of a much broader progressive coalition that is generally totally hostile to what they're doing. They are punching above weight and I want to give them a lot of credit for what they've been able to accomplish, and yet, the idea that YIMBYs tend to be left-wing and therefore they are the main people that are responsible for allowing housing is just not true. Most places in the country basically don't have a lot of pro- or anti-housing activism. They just have apathy combined with a construction industry that tries to go and build stuff, and if no one stops them, they do their job.The YIMBY movement (11:01)Who the hell decided that was a good idea that everybody should have an acre of land?I want to talk a bit more about the economic harms and benefits of deregulation, but if I was a center-left YIMBY, I would think, “Oh, I have all kinds of potential allies on the right. Conservatives, they hate regulation.” I wonder how true that is, at least recently, it seems to me that when I hear a lot of conservatives talking about this issue of density, they don't like density either. It sounds like they're very worried that someone's going to put up an apartment building next to their suburban home, YIMBY people want every place to look [the same] — What's the home planet in Star Wars?Coruscant.Yeah Coruscant, that that's what the YIMBYs want, they want an entire planet to look like a city where there's hundreds of levels, and I'm not sure there's the level of potential allyship on the right that center-left YIMBYs would want. Is that a phenomenon that you've noticed?I actually I have a whole chapter in Build, Baby, Build where I try to go and say we can sell these policies to very different people in their own language, and if they actually believe their official philosophy, then they should all be coming down to very similar conclusions.I think the main issue of center-left YIMBYs talking to people who are right wing or conservative, it's much more about polarization and mutual antipathy than it is about the people on the right would actually object to what they're hearing. What I say there is there are certain kinds of housing regulation that I think the conservatives are going to be sympathetic to. In particular, not liking multifamily housing in suburbs, but I don't really think there is any conservative objection to just allowing a lot more skyscrapers in cities where they don't even go. There's not going to be much objection there and it's like, “Yeah, why don't we go and allow lots of multifamily in the left-wing parts of the country?”But I think the other thing is I don't think it's really that hard to convince conservatives that you shouldn't need to have an acre of land to go and have a house. That one, I think, is just so crazy, and just unfair, and anti-family, you just go and list all the negative adjectives about it. Did you grow up in a house on a one-acre lot? I didn't! Who the hell decided that was a good idea that everybody should have an acre of land? Wouldn't you like your kids to be able to walk to their friends' houses?A lot of it seems to be that government is just preventing the development of something that people would actually want to live in. I remember when my daughter finally made a friend within walking distance, I wanted to light a candle, hallelujah! A child can walk to be friends with a child! This has not happened in all my years! But that was the normal way things were when you'd be on a quarter-acre or a third of acre when I was growing up.Homeowners and public opinion (13:56)People generally favor government policies because they believe . . . the policies are good for society.If someone owns a house, they like when that price goes up, and they might see what you're saying as lowering the price of homes. If we were to have sort of nationwide deregulation, maybe deregulation where the whole country kind of looks like wherever the lightest-regulated place is. People are going to say, “That's bad for me! I own a home. Why would I want that?”Lots of people think this, and especially economists like this idea of, of course we have all this regulation because it's great for homeowners; homeowners are the main wants to participate in local government. Sounds likely, but when we actually look at public opinion, we see that tenants are strong advocates regulation too, and it's like, gee, that really doesn't make any sense at all. They're the ones that are paying for all this stuff.But it does make sense if you switch to a much simpler theory of what's going on, which fits the facts, and that is: People generally favor government policies because they believe —underscore believe — the policies are good for society. So many people from the earlier decades say, “Oh, all those Republicans, they just want tax cuts.” Now we're finally at the level where Republicans are poorer than Democrats. It's like, “Yeah, I guess it's getting a little bit hard to say that people become Republicans to get tax cuts when they're the ones paying lower taxes.” How about there's an actual disagreement about what policies are good for society, which explains why people belong to different parties, support different policies.So most of what I'm doing in Build, Baby, Build is trying to convince people, look, I'm not impugning your motives, I don't think that you're just favoring whatever policies are selfishly best for you. I think that whatever policies you're into are ones that you think are genuinely good for your community, or your area, or your country, but we are not thinking very well about everything that's going on.So part of it is that a lot of the complaints are just overblown or wrong, but another thing is that generally we base a regulation purely on complaints without any thought of any good thing that we might be losing. I make a big deal in the book about how, if you don't want to have noise, and traffic, and pollution, it's really easy — just move to some remote part of the country and you solve all those problems; yet hardly anybody wants to do that.Why are people staying in congested areas with all these problems and paying a lot of extra money for them? Many of these people now have telework jobs, they don't even have a job reason to stay there. And the answer's got to be, there's just a bunch of really good things about living near other people that we hardly ever talk about and which have no political voice. There's almost no one's going to show up in a meeting and [say], “I favor this because I want there to be more commercial opportunities. I favor this because I want there to be more social opportunities, more cultural opportunities, more economic opportunities,” and yet these are all the reasons why people want to live near other people. So we have a set of regulation just based upon complaints: complaints which are generally out of context, not quantified. So we just see that people are willing to pay a lot of money for the package of living in an area with a bunch of other people, so that's got to mean that the good of other people exceeds the bad of the other people; otherwise, why aren't you living out in the middle of nowhere?Generating momentum (17:15)The sad truth is that symbolic issues are much more likely to get people excited, but this is something that determines the quality of life for most people in this country.When I read the book, and I read a really good New York Times essay —Would that be my essay, Jim?I think it is your essay! In fact, it was, I should have been clearer on the author of that essay. The brilliant Bryan Caplan was the author of that essay.If you look at the potential benefits on inequality, there's environmental impact, maybe people are really worried about birth rates, it really seems like housing really is sort of the “everything problem.”Panacea problem, or the “housing theory of everything.”It really does. I think the current election season, it's probably the most I've heard it talked about, and not really talked about very much.And thoughtlessly. Spoken of thoughtlessly.To me there seems to be a lot more — I'll use a nice think tank word — there's been a lot more ideation about the issue in recent years, and maybe it's only now kind of breaking through that filter where politicians start talking about it, but boy, when you look through what you've written about it, it seems like it should be a top three issue that politicians talk about.The sad truth is that symbolic issues are much more likely to get people excited, but this is something that determines the quality of life for most people in this country. It's the difference between: Are you going to keep living with your parents until you're 30, or are you going to be able to afford to get your own place, start your own family? And again, it's one where older people remember how things used to be, and the idea of, well, why can't things just be like that? Why can't it be that a person who gets out of college can go and immediately afford to get a pretty good house?At AEI, Mark Perry, for example, who is one of your colleagues, I think probably a remote colleague, he has done stuff on how new houses are better and so on, and that's also true, so I don't want to go and act like there's been no progress at all. But still, of course a lot of people are not moving into those new houses, they're moving into old houses, which are the same as they were in the past, but just way more expensive if you want to go and live in that areaThe other thing that is worth pointing out is that it's really temping to say, well, of course housing naturally gets more expensive as population rises. The period after World War II that we were mentioning, that's the Baby Boom era, population was rising at a much faster rate then than it did now, even counting immigration, and yet prices were much flatter because we were able to just go and legally build way more stuff.I feel like you feel like you need to drive home the point about demand not being met by supply for this artificial reason: regulation. Even though, to me, it seems utterly natural and a classic case, people struggle to come up with alternative reasons that it's really not that. That it's because of . . . there's private equity firms buying up all the homes, or the reason apartment rents go up is because there's a cabal of apartment owners . . . They look for these other reasons, and I don't quite get that when there seems to be a pretty obvious reason that we theoretically know how to fix.Some of these other stories, they are half-truths, but they're not helpful. So the thing of, “Gee, if we just shut down tourism and letting foreign buyers buy stuff here, then demand will be lower, and prices will be lower, and we won't need to build anything new.” And it's like, do you realize what you're saying? You're basically saying that you want to destroy one of your best export industries.If people around the world want to go and buy houses in your area, why do you want to turn them away instead of saying, cha-ching, let's capitalize on this by building a ton of housing for them? If there's a lot of tourists that want to go and rent a place in your area, why is it you want to go and strangle the market, which obviously it's a great industry — Build stuff and rent it to people, and it's not like there's some fixed amount unless the law says it must be fixed.One benefit I didn't mention was social mobility where we need people, if they want to be able to move towards high-wage, high-productivity cities, to find good jobs, and then not have the wages of those good jobs mostly gobbled up by housing costs. That kind of circulation system, if that's the right phrase.Certainly in some parts of the country, that has just been stopped and that has been a traditional way people move up the ladder.We've got very good data on this. In earlier periods of US history, there was basically a foolproof way for someone in a low-income part of the country to get a big raise, and that was just to move. Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath not withstanding, this almost always works. It wasn't normally the case that you starve to death on your way to California from Oklahoma. Instead, normally, it's just a simple thing: You move from a low-wage area to a high-wage area and you get a lot more money, and you get a much higher take-home salary. But then in those days, there was not much difference in housing prices between different areas of the country, and therefore you would actually have a rise in not just your paycheck, but your standard living.Now it's still true that you can get a rise in your paycheck by moving to the Bay Area. The problem is your standard of living, if you're coming from Mississippi, will generally crash because the housing cost eats up much more than 100 percent of the raise.I remember I had a colleague who had a son who was an investment banker in the Bay Area. He and his wife were sharing a small apartment with two roommates, and it's like investment bankers can't afford apartments! Things have gotten out of hand, I think we can say with great confidence now.Building new cities (23:10). . . politics is an area where there's a lot of ideas where it's like no one's trying it, it must be because it wouldn't work if tried, and then someone tries it with a little panache, or a little twist, and it catches on, and you're like, alright, maybe that's the real story.Should we be building new cities somewhere? I think former President Trump has talked about this idea that we, is that something you've thought about at all?Yes. I didn't put it into the book, but when I was writing up some follow-up posts on things that I wished I would've talked about, or just more speculative things, I do have some friends who are involved in that project to go and build a new city in the Bay Area. I hope it works.There is always the problem of there's almost always going to be some existing people where you want to build your new city, and then what do you do about them? You can try buying them out. There is this holdout problem, a few people are going to stay there and say, “I'm not going to sell.” Or you could just go and do what happened in the movie Up: We'll buy everybody around you, and if you don't like it, too bad.But on the other hand, it may be that activists will put a stop to your plan before you can get it off the ground. So in that case, it was going and selling off empty federal or state land, which we have in abundance. If I remember, I think that 23 percent of the land of the United States is owned by the federal government. Another 10 percent is owned by state governments. And even if you subtract out Alaska, there's still a ton. If you look at the map, it's really cool because you might think, “Oh, it's just that the government owns land no one in the right mind would want.” Not true.Desert land in Nevada next to Area 51 or something.Virtually all of Texas, even those western deserts, are privately owned. I've driven through them. Have you ever driven through West Texas?I have.Alright, so you're there and you're like, “Who wants to own this stuff?” And it's like, well, somebody at whatever the market price is considers this worth owning, and as to whether it's for mineral extraction, or for speculation on one day it'll be worth something when the population of Texas is greater, or they're going to do ranching there, I don't know. But it is at a price someone is willing to go and own almost every piece of land.What the map really shows is it was ideology that led all this land to be held by the government. It's basically the ideology of conservation that we hear about. You get John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt, and as a result, they didn't just wind up protecting a few really beautiful national parks, they wind up putting millions of square miles of land off-limits for most human use.Again, when the population of the country is lower, maybe it didn't even matter that much, but now it's like, “Hey, how about you go and sell me a hundred square miles so I can put a new city here?” The idea that an Elon or Zuckerberg couldn't go and just say, “I'm putting a pile of money into this. I'm going to build a new city and have a decent chance of it working.” Maybe it would be just a disaster and they waste their money. Then more likely I think it's going to be like Seward's Folly where it's like, “What's the point of buying Alaska?” Oh, actually it was fantastic. We got a great bargain on Alaska and now it is an incredible, in hindsight, investment.As we were talking, I started thinking about Andrew Yang who ran for president, I think that was in 2020, and he had one issue, really: Universal Basic Income. He thought that he had found an issue that was going to take him to the White House. It did not.I kind of think if you were going to have a candidate focus a lot on one issue, this would not be a bad issue, given how it touches all these concerns of modern American society.As an economist, I always hesitate to say that anyone who is a specialist in an area and is putting all their resources into it is just royally screwing up. At the same time, politics is an area where there's a lot of ideas where it's like no one's trying it, it must be because it wouldn't work if tried, and then someone tries it with a little panache, or a little twist, and it catches on, and you're like, alright, maybe that's the real story.Just to give Trump credit where credit is due, there's just a lot of things that he said that you would think would've just destroyed his candidacy, and instead it seemed like he came out and he was more popular than ever. Maybe he just saw that there were some ideas that are popular that other people didn't realize would be popular.Now I'm not optimistic about what he's going to do about housing, although anytime he says one good thing, it's like, I don't know, maybe he'll just get fixated on that, but more likely ADHD will kick in, unfortunately.But just to go and allow one new laissez-faire city to be built on federal land in some non-crummy area of the country — just as a demonstration project, the value of that would be enormous, just to see, hey, there's no reason why you can't have spacious, cheap homes in a really nice area that is not that remote from the rest of the country. Just imagine the airport you could build there, too — before all the noise complaints. You probably know about the noise complaints against Reagan Airport and how one single guy filed over half the complaints. It's like, how are we going to build anything? Let's build it all before that guy shows up!On sale everywhere The Conservative Futurist: How To Create the Sci-Fi World We Were PromisedMicro Reads▶ Economics* Trump Could Win the Contest With China Once and for All - NYT Opinion▶ Business* Nvidia's message to global chipmakers - FT Opinion* The Great American Microchip Mobilization - Wired* ASML Sticks to Long-Term Growth Targets Amid AI Frenzy - WSJ▶ Policy/Politics* Trump and the future of AI regulation - FT* Silicon Valley eyes a windfall from Trump's plans to gut regulation - Wapo* Environmental Policy Act Ruling Casts Doubt On White House Authority - Forbes* How Elon Musk could disrupt Washington - Politico* Semiconductors and Modern Industrial Policy - Journal of Economic Perspectives▶ AI/Digital* Google DeepMind has a new way to look inside an AI's “mind” - MIT▶ Biotech/Health* Why we now think the myopia epidemic can be slowed – or even reversed - NS* Canada Detects Its First Human Case of Bird Flu - NYT▶ Clean Energy/Climate* Climate Summit, in Early Days, Is Already on a ‘Knife Edge' - NYT▶ Robotics/AVs* Nvidia Readies Jetson Thor Computers for Humanoid Robots in 2025 - WSJ▶ Space/Transportation* Former Officials Warn Lawmakers of Alleged Secret UAP Programs Operating Beyond Congressional Oversight - The Debrief▶ Up Wing/Down Wing* Stand-Up, Drama and Spambots: The Creative World Takes On A.I. - NYT* Is Europe running out of chemistry teachers? - C&EN▶ Substacks/Newsletters* Here's What I Think We Should Do - Hyperdimensional* What is OpenAI's Operator and Blueprint? History and Tips of Prompt Engineering from 2020 to 2025 - AI Supremacy* People want competence, seemingly over everything else - Strange Loop CanonPlease check out the website or Substack app for the latest Up Wing economic, business, and tech news in this edition of the newsletter.Faster, Please! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fasterplease.substack.com/subscribe
Zhen Yu, CEO & Co-Founder, Web3Auth Zhen Yu Yong is the CEO and co-founder of Web3Auth, the leading non-custodial auth infrastructure that enables Web3 wallets and applications to provide a seamless user login experience to both mainstream and native Web3 users. Prior to Web3Auth, Zhen worked on various Ethereum Foundation projects as a researcher for off-chain scalability — where he built one of the first cross-chain bridges called The Peace Bridge, between ETH and ETC. He met Vitalik Buterin face-to-face in 2016 and then decided a “decentralized computer” made sense. He was previously a Firefighter in the Singapore army and started learning programming on his days off. He studied finance at Singapore Management University. Twitter | LinkedIn About Web3auth Web3Auth is the leading Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS) provider that empowers every user to manage a non-custodial wallet intuitively. It leverages on enterprise-grade Multi-Party Computation and Account Abstraction tooling, alongside social logins, biometrics, OIDC, FIDO for a familiar yet seamless user experience. Web3Auth works with Fortune 500 brands (including NBCUniversal, Fox.com, McDonald's), leading Asia conglomerates (SK Planet, Square Enix) and Web3 pioneers like Trust Wallet, Metamask, Sky Mavis, Kukai, Skyweaver among others. To date, it is proud to be supporting thousands of Web3 projects with more than 20 million monthly users. The organization is growing beyond Series A, and backed by Sequoia Capital, Union Square Ventures, Binance, and more. Website | Twitter | Discord | Blog | Docs | Github --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crypto-hipster-podcast/support
Most of us intuitively know that wisdom's a good thing. Sometimes we're full of it - wisdom that is … and sometimes, we're full of ourselves and that's when we come unstuck. So - where do we find the sort of wisdom that really makes a difference? Wisdom Starts Here Hey, it's fantastic to be with you again this week. How quickly the weeks roll on by! And today I am really excited because we are kicking off a brand new series of messages called “Wisdom that Works”. Now, I don't know about you but I have done some pretty silly things in my life. We all make mistakes and the thing is that the mistakes have consequences. Sometimes those consequences are mildly annoying but other times, they are devastating. Sometimes we don't even notice some of the silly things that we're doing – they seem so trivial and yet we do them over and over and over and over and over again and the consequences compound and before we know it, we have a situation on our hands. Wisdom is about avoiding mistakes so that we can avoid the consequences. Wisdom is about taking the goodness and the experiences and the knowledge that others have developed and decide to apply in our lives so that we have a better life. Fewer mistakes, fewer consequences! And it's not just about avoiding mistakes, it's about knowing how to handle difficult situations. It's about knowing how to be proactive in making good things happen, rather than wallowing around in the consequences of repeated stupidities. In fact, there is a lot to be said for wisdom – the sort of wisdom that actually works. Okay, so exactly what is wisdom? I mean, intuitively, we know that wisdom is probably a good thing and most of us wouldn't mind having a bit more of it but have you ever stopped to think exactly what is it? Well, here's a dictionary definition: Wisdom is the quality of having experience, knowledge and good judgement and the soundness of action or decision by applying this experience and knowledge and good judgement. That's not bad! You boil that down and there are two parts to that. Firstly, knowing what to do and then doing it. Knowing what to do and then not doing it is pretty dumb and that's why I for one have done some dumb things in my life. Yes, sure, sometimes I didn't know what the right thing was to do, so I ran into a brick wall and it hurt and I learned that that particular thing doesn't work. Or perhaps, even better, I listened to someone else who had run into that brick wall before me and I learned from their experience. But sometimes, you know, we know the right thing, either because we just know – I mean, I know that it's wrong to rob a bank and I know that if I do, there are going to be some undesirable consequences – or because I have been down that road before or because I have listened to someone who has. So, sometimes we know the right thing to do – we have access to the knowledge but then we turn around and we don't do it. I know that drink driving is dangerous. I know that. Seen the road statistics lately? Seen the random breath testing stations on the road? Yea, so I have the knowledge, but if I get into that car, having had too much to drink and run over a pedestrian – you know, some people do that – then do I have wisdom? No, just the knowledge! For it to be wisdom you have to have the knowledge and then put it into action. Wisdom isn't just having the experience and the knowledge and the good judgement, wisdom is using it; acting on it; doing it; living it. Wisdom is only wisdom when it involves the knowledge and the doing. Does that make sense? Quite a few thousand years ago, King Solomon, King of Israel, David's son, was pretty much recognised as one of the wisest men on the planet. He had a few sons and so he decided to jot down some of that wisdom. We have access to that in the Book of Proverbs in the Old Testament and over these coming four weeks we are going to spend some time ransacking this Book for wisdom - getting as much of the proverbial Wisdom of Solomon as we can, so that we can put that to work in our lives. And that's the key: putting it to work. I can help by unlocking the treasure chest of wisdom, I can help even by encouraging you to put it to work but only you can make it happen in your life – only I can make it happen in my life. Remember this series is called “Wisdom that Works.” Okay, where do we find that wisdom? Where do we start? Well, let's start at the beginning of the Book of Proverbs, chapter 1 – the preamble; the introduction; the reason for wisdom. That's what it's all about. Proverbs chapter 1, beginning at verse 1: The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: For learning about wisdom and instruction, for understanding words of insight for gaining instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity; to teach shrewdness to the simple, knowledge and prudence to the young. Let the wise also hear and gain in learning, and the discerning acquire skill, to understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. Hear, my child, your father's instruction, and do not reject your mother's teaching; for they are a fair garland for your head, and pendants for your neck. Well, isn't that what we have just been talking about? It's about getting good wisdom into us and for it to have a good outcome. God's wisdom – the sort of wisdom that actually works. There is plenty of wisdom out there that purports to be real but it's fake; it's a ‘me' centred wisdom which will eventually come unstuck. Not a God-centred wisdom at all and that, my friends, is the starting point of wisdom – shifting our thoughts and our hearts away from the seductive slight-of-hand that passes for worldly wisdom and coming back to the source of real wisdom – the sort of wisdom that actually works. Have a listen again to what Solomon writes about where to find wisdom that works – Proverbs chapter 1, verse 7: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. And the meaning of that word ‘fear' in that context isn't just fear of the consequences of God's judgement if we are rebel against Him – and there is that and it will happen – but awe and respect and reverence. When I was a young lad, if I played up, I knew I would get a belting from my Dad – but much better to live in respect of my Dad, knowing of course, that a belting was in the offing if I mucked up – but living instead in a good respect for my father and avoiding the belting all together. See, there are two sides to that "fear" thing and it's when we finally decide to stick our pride in our pockets, to realise that all along, "I've been trying to do it my way and hey, you know what, it isn't working so brilliantly well. It isn't bringing me the joy and contentment and the satisfaction that I've been craving for." Admitting that and saying, "You know something, God? I have been wandering out there, trying to do it my way and it's not working. I can reject and despise Your wisdom and instruction and live with the consequences, God, or I can yield my life to You and do it Your way." And throughout the Book of Proverbs there is a contrast between the wise and the foolish, between good outcomes and bad outcomes. And that's what we are going to be exploring over these coming weeks on the programme. But the starting point is here: Proverbs chapter 1, verse 7: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. And the choice is yours for your life and mine for my life. Question is: which way will we choose? Good Friends, Bad Friends Do you remember when you were growing up? You know when you were in those teenage years, your parents would tell you this or tell you that and we would just roll our eyes into the back of our heads, wouldn't we? "Don't hang out with the wrong crowd; be careful of the company you keep". "Yeh, yeh, yeh, right, what would they know – the oldies?" But it's really interesting in this Old Testament Book of Proverbs – thirty one chapters, packed, verse after verse with lots of wisdom. One of the very first things that Solomon talks to his sons about, in fact, the very first thing after talking to them about where to find wisdom - which is what we chatted about earlier - the very next thing is the crowd they hang around with. You know, maturity is an interesting thing. As we grow, we grow in our ability to discern what "good advice" is. Sometimes we reject people's advice because it is inappropriate or self-interested but what we are about to hear is some very good advice – some stunning advice, in fact and if we put this into action then it becomes wisdom. Now, any parent knows that if our kids keep bad company that doesn't auger well for their future because that bad company is a bad influence and it can be terribly, terribly destructive on our kids when they are growing up. And this is what Solomon has to say to these young me – his sons – about keeping bad company. Proverbs chapter 1, beginning at verse 10. He said: My child, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us wantonly ambush the innocent; like Sheol let us swallow them alive and whole, like those who go down to the Pit. We shall find all kinds of costly things; we shall fill our houses with booty. Throw in your lot amongst us; we will all have enough in the one purse”, my child, do not walk in their way, keep your foot from their paths; for their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed blood. For in vain is the net baited while the bird is looking on; yet they lie in wait—to kill themselves! and set an ambush—for their own lives! Such is the end of all who are greedy for gain; it takes away the life of its possessors. Okay, hopefully most of us aren't murderers – hopefully most of us aren't going to go and lie in wait and mug someone and rob them but we kind of do that sometimes in life, through our behaviour and our attitudes and dishonesty and aggressively looking after our own interests above other peoples' interests. And it turns out that keeping bad company is different from being around bad people. You go to work, you go to church, you are a member of a club, you interact with people and some of them are great and some of them are fantastic – they're wonderful to be with – and some of them are downright awful. That's life! When we deal with people sometimes, we have to deal with those people and everything in between. But it's not whether we are around them or not, so much, it's a question of influence. Let's go back to what Solomon said – Proverbs chapter 1, verse 10: My child, if sinners entice you, do not consent … My child, do not walk in their way; keep you foot from their paths; for their feet run to evil and they hurry to shed blood. Look what Solomon says – he says, "Look don't be tempted by bad company or listen to them when they say, ‘Come on, let's gang up on someone and kill them, just for the fun of it." It's a question of whether we take their advice and go with them; whether we keep their company; whether we let them influence what we think, what we feel and ultimately, what we do. Here's the chain of events: they speak, we hear. Now, when we hear, we have a decision to make – we either accept or reject. And if we accept, it changes our behaviour and if it changes our behaviour, that has consequences – that's the important bit. When we hear, do we accept or reject? Do we rely on them or not? Do we trust them or don't we? Do we put our faith in them, to the extent that we let them change what we do? It's not that we are around bad people; it's not even that we hear them speak – that's not the problem. It's when we are tempted by them and when we allow them to change what we do. It's a question of influence. Bad company can discourage us; it can lead us to complaining; it can be disruptive; it can make us suspicious; it can make us envious; it can make us dishonest; it can make us violent. Bad company is an entry point of bad influence from other people and I have enough issues in my life to deal with without taking on bad stuff from other people. Now, at the end of the day, all of us want to live a good life. Sure, we want to be comfortable, we want to be happy but part of that is knowing that we are living a good life - that there's a goodness that we are reaping the fruit from and God comes to us here – this is stuff from Solomon, it's from the Bible. And we might go, ‘Aw, come on, it's three thousand years ago. Aw, it's from the Bible – it's not for me.' Come on, this is good advice! God is giving us Fatherly advice, born out of His love because whilst bad company may entice us into action that appears to give us a quick win, ultimately that bad influence ... ultimately that bad influence leads us to destruction. Listen again to the consequences – Proverbs chapter 1, verse 17: For in vain is the net baited while the bird is looking on; yet they lie in wait, ultimately to kill themselves – they set an ambush ultimately, for their own lives. Such is the end of all those who are greedy for gain – it takes away the life that it possesses. See, they think they are ambushing the other guy through their bad deeds but in fact, they are ambushing themselves. They want to kill the other guy but their evil desires are going to destroy them. Come on, who do you hang around with? Who are the people whom you allow to influence you and are any of those ruining your life with a bad influence? Because if they are, it's like drinking in poison from them – it's time to do something about it. Bad company drags us down – bad company has consequences and we are going to sit here and go, "Well, that's a nice story from Solomon, Berni," and we can ignore it but there will be consequences. Or we can take it on board; we can say, "You know what, this advice from God through the Book of Proverbs; from Solomon – this is great advice!" I never really thought of it that way. Do you know something: there are some changes I need to make about the people I hang around with? The Value of Wisdom Now, the very next thing that Solomon talks about in the Book of Proverbs, after the beginning of wisdom and the impact of bad company, is the value of wisdom. Now, why do people make investments? Why do they take their hard earned money and buy shares in a company? Well, it's not for the fun of it so much – people make investments in order to reap a return. On the stock market, the price of a particular share goes up and it goes down, according to the market's perception of the return that they can make on their investment in that particular company. If the company has good prospects, the value goes up – if there are some bad returns, the value falls down. It's the way of the world! But it's not God's way – God has an investment that we can make in the good times that actually pays dividends in the tough times. In fact, that's the whole point of this particular investment. Intuitively we all know that wisdom is a good thing – we would all like so more of it and so you have to ask yourself, why is it that we are not all as wise as we can be? Why is it that we are not full to overflowing with the Wisdom of Solomon? Well, the answer is simple – because like any investment, wisdom requires a sacrifice up front. If I invest some of my hard earned cash in this company or that company on the stock market then the point is I have to use the money that I would have spent otherwise, for that investment. I have to make a sacrifice up front. It's locked away – the money – and hopefully it's locked away because it will earn me a good return. That's the concept of investing – sacrificing now so that we can benefit later on. It's the same with wisdom but the mistake that we can often make with wisdom is that we imagine that it's just about having the knowledge and the experience and the principles. I mean, all those are necessary but they don't become wisdom until we put them into action – until we live them out. That's when we demonstrate that we have wisdom – by living it. So, back to this question: why is it that we are not all living virtuous lives, reaping the harvest of our wisdom? Because we haven't bought into it! And when do we buy into a company? We do it when we think there is going to be a good return. The problem for most people is that they don't perceive a return on investment – the upfront sacrifice – when it comes to this precious commodity that they call "wisdom". So right now we are going to look at what accountants and economists call "ROI's" – return on investment. So let's dive into the Book of Proverbs; Solomon's advice to his young sons and let's see what it say about the ROI on our investment in wisdom. Proverbs chapter 1, beginning at verse 20: Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice. At the busiest corner she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? Give heed to my reproof; I will pour out my thoughts to you; I will make my words known to you. Because I have called and you refused, have stretched out my hand and no one heeded, and because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at you in your calamity; I will mock when panic strikes you, when panic strikes you like a storm, and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, would have none of my counsel, and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way and be sated with their own devices. For waywardness kills the simple, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but those who listen to me, (says wisdom,) will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster. I love the old Hebrew writings and the way they use picture language. And here we have this picture of wisdom as a person, calling out to us from the street corner in the middle of life, stretching out her hand – but everyone walks by and ignores her – they are too busy with life. Doesn't this just hit the nail right on the head? Earlier we looked at Solomon's advice to his sons about the company they keep – keep bad company and they will lead you astray and it will cost you a lot of pain. That's it in a nutshell! So times were good – his sons had a choice: listen to Dad; take his advice; turn away from the bad company or continue to hunt with that pack. Wisdom is something that so often comes to us when the times are good. When the economy is buoyant and returns are strong – she cries out to us; she stretches out her hand – invest in me! So we have a choice – we either go and invest; we act on the advice of God's wisdom; we live out that wisdom in the good times when it appears that we don't actually need the wisdom; when it appears that we don't need to make a sacrifice - we either do it then or we don't. And the whole point of wisdom is that we need to act on it in the good times in order to reap the reward in the bad times. Let me say that again: wisdom is the one investment we can make that delivers a dividend in the tough times. All the other investments come crashing down in the tough times but it's the dividend of wisdom that stands head and shoulders above the rest. Listen to what Solomon said again – Proverbs chapter 1, verse 32: For waywardness kills the simple and the complacency of fools destroys them but those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease without dread of disaster. So wisdom either helps us to avoid the bad times - as in the case of the advice about keeping bad company - or when the bad times hit, which of course, they inevitably do in life. We don't want bad times to hit but they always do. Eventually the cycle turns and the bad times hit. And see, wisdom helps us in the bad times. It's like putting away some savings today so that we have some spare cash on a rainy day – bad choices in the good times inevitably lead to bad outcomes and bad consequences. Wise choices however, the sacrifices that we make in living out God's wisdom, pays dividends. It may not lead to perfect outcomes that we always planned but wisdom pays dividends. In fact, it pays huge dividends in tough times. This is wisdom that works! Wisdom cries out to us – God cries out to us, "Listen to Me – sacrifice the things I ask you to sacrifice and I will be with you there in the tough times; in the bad times because God's wisdom is wisdom that works."
Intuitively, research and development is a building block of a productive future. But exactly how important is it, and can we put a number on it? Heidi Williams is a professor of economics at Dartmouth College, and an expert on innovation policy. She is also a visiting fellow at the Congressional Budget Office. Today on the show, she joins Soumaya Keynes to discuss public and private funding for R&D, how the two sources interact, and what we can know about how much it's all worth to the economic future of a country. Soumaya Keynes writes a column each week for the Financial Times. You can find it hereSubscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
On today's show we are talking about how to evaluate a bid from a subcontractor. If you follow the procurement method used by most government departments, in the US and in Canada, the process makes sense. Everyone needs to meet the minimum requirements. For all those who meet the minimum requirements, the purchaser will select the lowest bidder. Intuitively this makes sense. But it puts the burden on the purchaser to specify every aspect that matters to the buyer. My mentor Dr. Nido Qubein says that when the value is unclear, the discussion always degenerates to price. All other things being equal, then price would be the only remaining differentiator. But some things are subjective and not just functional. When an architect designs a building for you, there is a complete set of drawings. These drawings are then supplemented by another document which details the specifications. In most of our projects, this spec document is somewhere between 600-800 pages in length. Even then, it doesn't capture everything that we would want in the products used in our finished buildings. The specifications fall into several categories. First there are those specifications that are required by the building code. Two of the most difficult items to specify are the product longevity and the product quality. If you are specifying a paint, the paint can have different qualities of durability. What is the solid content of the paint? What is the durability of a product? How many years will a wood floor finish last in a high traffic area? Some products feel cheap, or look cheap even if they're not. How do you specify that you don't want the ceramic tile to look cheap? -------------- **Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1) iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613) Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com) LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce) YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734) Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso) Email: [podcast@victorjm.com](mailto:podcast@victorjm.com) **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com) Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital) Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)
Last week's episode covered the truth that nobody wants to talk about. That women INTUITIVELY want to feel long term safety with a man. We want marriage.How often do you feel hopeless, thinking the love story you desire will never happen? Do you catch yourself believing you're too old, that the right man doesn't exist, or that falling in love again feels too risky and painful because of past heartbreak?The truth is he DOES exist. And the more opportunities you give yourself to change your beliefs, grow your emotional capacity, and experience the things you want most like being in love, the more likely they are to happen. Many women have given up on love. 52% of women in the U.S. are single. Studies suggest this is due to exhaustion, gender role confusion, and a belief that feminism requires them to be “Miss Independent” and reject traditional roles. Many see men as “the problem,” fear appearing weak (I was guilty of this), or have unrealistic expectations (also me).When you're 100% honest with yourself, do you want your own version of a forever love story?If so, join me this week to learn how to create your own love story, trust its timing, and manage your fear, uncertainty and doubt in dating AND when you're married/in a long term relationship. You'll hear why there is so much value in embodying what your heart desires, and my top tips for practicing self coaching around your ability to have your own love story. Don't forget to download my FREE Masterclass “How To Be Irresistible To Men.” You'll learn 7 easy mindset strategies to feel that calm, sexy, at ease vibe with men.
rWotD Episode 2705: Curve Welcome to Random Wiki of the Day, your journey through Wikipedia’s vast and varied content, one random article at a time.The random article for Sunday, 29 September 2024 is Curve.In mathematics, a curve (also called a curved line in older texts) is an object similar to a line, but that does not have to be straight.Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point. This is the definition that appeared more than 2000 years ago in Euclid's Elements: "The [curved] line is […] the first species of quantity, which has only one dimension, namely length, without any width nor depth, and is nothing else than the flow or run of the point which […] will leave from its imaginary moving some vestige in length, exempt of any width."This definition of a curve has been formalized in modern mathematics as: A curve is the image of an interval to a topological space by a continuous function. In some contexts, the function that defines the curve is called a parametrization, and the curve is a parametric curve. In this article, these curves are sometimes called topological curves to distinguish them from more constrained curves such as differentiable curves. This definition encompasses most curves that are studied in mathematics; notable exceptions are level curves (which are unions of curves and isolated points), and algebraic curves (see below). Level curves and algebraic curves are sometimes called implicit curves, since they are generally defined by implicit equations.Nevertheless, the class of topological curves is very broad, and contains some curves that do not look as one may expect for a curve, or even cannot be drawn. This is the case of space-filling curves and fractal curves. For ensuring more regularity, the function that defines a curve is often supposed to be differentiable, and the curve is then said to be a differentiable curve.A plane algebraic curve is the zero set of a polynomial in two indeterminates. More generally, an algebraic curve is the zero set of a finite set of polynomials, which satisfies the further condition of being an algebraic variety of dimension one. If the coefficients of the polynomials belong to a field k, the curve is said to be defined over k. In the common case of a real algebraic curve, where k is the field of real numbers, an algebraic curve is a finite union of topological curves. When complex zeros are considered, one has a complex algebraic curve, which, from the topological point of view, is not a curve, but a surface, and is often called a Riemann surface. Although not being curves in the common sense, algebraic curves defined over other fields have been widely studied. In particular, algebraic curves over a finite field are widely used in modern cryptography.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:13 UTC on Sunday, 29 September 2024.For the full current version of the article, see Curve on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Arthur.
When we work with our intuition, energy and Divine team we can create magic. It can also help us with challenges and growth points in a MUCH more effective way. Janine is the founder of Janine Kathleen, offering Personal Leadership Coaching and Psychic Healing where you learn to stop drowning in BS-belief systems and achieve the fulfilment and success authentically yours. Success isn't just about the actions you take—it starts with the thoughts you think, the feelings you feel and the words you speak. By transforming your mindset, your thinking and your story, you can elevate your life in ways you never imagined before. If you're ready to dive deeper into this work and learn how to fully align your thoughts with success, I'd love to support you through my Personal Leadership coaching programme. Together, we can work on creating the mindset that empowers you to achieve your vision and unlock your full potential. You can reach out to me at: https://linktr.ee/janine_kathleen Until next time, keep aligning your thoughts with abundance, confidence, and success. You have the power to create the life you desire. Book a chat here: https://calendly.com/janinekathleenmeeting #intuition
You have a lot more control over your health than you may think! (Or than people in the medical profession may have told you.) When things get challenging, we often turn to external sources for solutions - whether that's a partner, doctor, or someone else. So rather than learning how to holistically care for our mind, body, and soul, we look to others for band-aid solutions. If you're ready to take your health into your own hands, then you're going to love this masterclass with Kelly Noonan Gores. Kelly Noonan Gores is the director of the Heal documentary, author of Heal, and host of the Heal with Kelly Podcast, interviewing leading doctors, scientists, spiritual teachers, and healers around the globe on her mission to find out the true extent of human potential and healing. In this masterclass, you will learn: How to reconnect with your body, understand what it needs, and fight illness The crucial link between emotional and physical healing that is often overlooked in mainstream healthcare Must-do mental hygiene practices for clearing stress and negative emotions you can add to your daily routine today! Strategies for navigating real-world challenges through health study and practice What Kelly eats in a typical day, plus her tips for finding balance in diet and nutrition And much more! If you loved this masterclass and want to learn more about nutrition, your body, and improving your health, then explore studying with the Food Matters Nutrition Certification Program here: https://bit.ly/456TrjM Watch the full masterclass series for free here: https://bit.ly/3wxy8wd Learn more about the Food Matters Nutrition Certification Program & enroll here: https://bit.ly/456TrjM Sign up for the Food Matters Podcast Newsletter here: https://bit.ly/3oiJJbs
Today's episode is a deep dive into what's been alive for me lately - think of a life update that offers value to YOU, because I will be sharing with you babes how I've been living my life that has been enriched in countless ways. I'm opening up with you babes about some vulnerable topics such as my struggle with alcohol, my personal take on materialism, honoring each life season, veganism and so much more! So, grab your cacao or matcha and a journal, because this episode is packed with insights for you, babe! CHECK OUT THE ABUNDANT CEO BUNDLE HERE – ideal for female entrepreneurs (to be) who want to avoid burnout & overcome overwhelm, and spice up their love life by becoming their most feminine Selves! DM me the word 'MAGNETICAF' for the link with the pre-launch price for my brand new live-led container! ------ In this episode, I discuss: A vulnerable update on the shifts I made to step into my new identity My overall journey, relationship to and struggle with alcohol in my past My insights and personal take on a controversial topic: materialism Why it's important to embrace and honor each life season The changes I am implementing in the upcoming months My approach to living a healthy lifestyle & veganism Connect with Laura: Laura's Website: https://www.lauraherde.com/ Laura's IG: https://www.instagram.com/laura.herde/ Laura's 1-1 Coaching: https://www.lauraherde.com/application-1-1 Laura's Love, Feminine Leadership & Soulful Biz Mastermind: https://lauraherde.kartra.com/page/the-fem-leader-mastermind Laura's Group Program, Thrive on Life: https://lauraherde.kartra.com/page/thrive-on-life Laura's Coaching Certification Course: https://www.instagram.com/embodiedcoachacademy/ More free resources for you: *FREE* THE FEMININE LEADERSHIP PLAYBOOK *FREE* HEAL YOUR FEMININE ENERGY – THE GUIDE *FREE* TRIAL OF MY CERTIFICATION - THE EMBODIED COACH ACADEMY *FREE* TRAINING FOR FEMALE BIZ OWNERS: SHE SUCCEEDS MASTERCLASS *FREE* TRAINING ON FEMININE ENERGY: RECLAIM YOUR FEMININE MASTERCLASS >> EMAIL ME TO CONNECT/ ASK QUESTIONS: hello@lauraherde.com >> FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @laura.herde Feel free to share this episode with your bestie, and tag me on IG when you listen so I can repost you! Thank you so much for tuning in, love xx
Adam creates a metaphorical hypnosis session to help a client become better at selling emotionally rather than logically and to become the best salesperson in their industry. Coming Soon - The Hypnotists's Secret Circle: Adam will soon be launching a new low-cost membership to access his entire hypnosis archive without the intro, outro, and explanation and an exclusive community only for members. In the meantime you can secure a free sleep download here: https://tr.ee/MCuZqKPnEg Adam Cox is one of the world's most innovative hypnotists and is known for being the hypnotherapist of choice for Celebrities, CEO's and even Royalty. To book a free 30-minute consultation call to consider working with Adam go to: https://go.oncehub.com/AdamCox Adam's rates for hypnotherapy in pounds and US dollars are here: https://www.adamcox.co.uk/hypnotherapist.html You can contact Adam at adam@adamcox.co.uk Further information on Adam is here: https://linktr.ee/AdamCoxOfficial Tags: Adam Cox, the hypnotist, NLP, asmr, hypnosis, hypnotherapy, hypnotist, stress, sleep, worry, meditation, guided meditation, hypnotism, anxiety, hypnosis for confidence, hypnosis for business success, law of attraction hypnosis, manifestation hypnosis, hypnosis for selling,
I do believe that our confidence, belief in ourselves, and self-love are the first and most important accessories we wear second to our outer clothes – (wardrobe). But, when you integrate all this, now you have an unwavering belief in yourself that exudes through your personal brand and how you impact others. You'll love today's guest! She's got spunk, class, and a one-of-a-kind style. We had dinner last Friday and all that showed up. We had a blast! My guest, Bobbie Casalino-Lewis, brings all that together in the way she serves women globally. She calls herself a Style Expression expert where she helps bring out the women's true essence with style and aligns it to their brand and message. You will hear how her 40 years' experience as a female corporate executive in a very male field became a platform for her to use her intuitive prowess to navigate success in her relationships and her career. She says her purpose is to help everyone stand in their power and contribute their purpose to the world with style, grace, and kindness. Through her fascinating story, you will find out what all that means. Take notes. Lots of golden nuggets! Bobbie is a proud author of “So That's What 70 Looks Like: The Essence of Aging Gracefully,” a TEDx speaker, go to stylist for Keri Murphy's It Factor, a boomer bridging the gap with Millennials and she is fun, sharp, witty, and chic. Enjoy the show! Links from the show: Book: https://amzn.to/3z1NgDM www.BobbieCasalinoLewis.com IG, FB, LinkedIn: @Bobbiecasalinolewis and YouTube Email: Bobbie@bobbiecasalinolewis.com If you enjoyed the episode and podcast, I'd appreciate a review on Apple & Spotify. Let's connect: @marla_diann. Three free resources for creative entrepreneurs: www.marladiann.com/free Ready for transformation in business or life or both? I invite you to have a conversation. Use: https://calendly.com/successcoach-marladiann/connection.
In this episode, I'm joined by Jenna Perry, celebrity hair colorist and founder of the Jenna Perry Hair Studio, in Manhattan's SoHo.With a pervasive vision and devoted, rapid-growing following, Jenna Perry is cementing her status as one of the most influential and sought-after hair colorists in the world. A consummate authority on effortless, natural-looking hair color, Jenna's loyal client list includes Bella Hadid, Emily Ratajkowski, Jennifer Fisher, Maude Apatow, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and Elise Taylor, among other high-profile members of the fashion-girl set. It's no surprise that her easy yet inimitable aesthetic inspired the term “Hot Girl Hair,” in honor of Jenna's seductively unbothered way with balayage, the method that put her on the map.Born in Newport, Rhode Island, Jenna moved to New York City immediately after graduating high school to pursue a career in the beauty industry. She would spend the next eight years mastering every aspect of hair styling and color, until she discovered the art of hair painting, better known as balayage, while working at Ion Studio in Soho. It was there she realized where she wanted to focus her devotion and hasn't looked back. Now, seven years later, Jenna is heralding a shift in the way we think about hair color. Her philosophy: Hair is our most important accessory, and it has to match your lifestyle; if you have a high-maintenance schedule, she's going to give you low-maintenance hair.“Trust your gut. Take care of yourself. Make sure that you have at least an hour to disconnect. If you can do that, you can show up as a better person for your business.“ - Jenna PerryTopics Covered:How she began her career in hair and opened her own salonNavigating the challenges of running a business Tools and practices for remaining mentally resilientWorking with friends and prioritizing communicationWhat running a business has taught her about herselfPieces of advice for starting a businessGuest Info:Jenna's InstagramJenna's WebsiteGet in Touch:Benshen.co WebsiteBenshen MembershipBenshen.co InstagramRate, review, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Have you ever felt like there's something more waiting for you, just beyond your reach? It's time to tune into that feeling. In this episode, we're diving deep into the power of manifesting and living intuitively. Discover how the world opens up when you start being unapologetically you—when you listen to your true desires and recognize the subtle signs guiding your next steps. We'll explore how choosing to focus on the good and taking courageous action can transform your life, bringing you closer to the dreams you've always had but were too afraid to chase. It's not just possible to live in alignment with who you are and what you want—it's your path to freedom. Join us as we explore how to start listening to yourself, act on those inner nudges, and watch as what you put out into the world comes back to you in powerful ways. Your intuitive journey begins now. Looking for purpose, relationship tips and connection to self?! Join our CONNECT COMMUNITY. We have put together this program that helped us get to the point we are at personally and within our relationship FOR YOU! Click HERE to join! https://www.grindtogetherco.com/connectcommunity --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/matthew-griner2/support
Send us a Text Message.Send us a Text Message.In this weeks episode Matilda talks about Intuition and how many of us are missing the point and how it appears in our bodies. learning to listen to ourselves will help us learn to listen to our intuition.Matilda also talks about current affairs including Donald Trump and his current state of health, Biden and Harris as well as some health and weather issues she sees coming in over the coming months.Matilda also explains Evidential Mediumship and how import it is to provide the evidence when doing a reading and to learn who you can trust.Matilda talks about how her current readings are full and that she has one more event open in August for the Law of Attraction Workshop on this coming Sunday.You can find Matilda at these links. TikTokMatilda's WebsiteYou TubePatreonMatilda's Live Mediumship EventMatilda's Law of Attraction EventOrder an Angry Mango BallWith Laurie Rivers of the Awake SpaceSASSYSEERSLaurie Rivers
Beyond Intuitive Eating - Total Confidence with Food, Body, and Life
Explore the art of tuning into your body's signals, honoring its needs, and finding joy in movement. From overcoming gym intimidation to understanding the link between menstrual cycles and energy levels, this episode is packed with expert advice, personal stories, and practical tips for moving intuitively. Join us and transform how you connect with your body's wisdom today!CONNECT MORE WITH BETH! Loving the podcast? You are not alone! If you're like most women, this podcast will kick off your journey and give you valuable insights, but you'll probably find yourself wanting even deeper support and transformation, totally understandable! Here is how to find what you are looking for… FREE 20 minute consult with BethJoin Peace with Food & Soul, the life-changing group coaching program designed to help you shed food and body guilt for GOOD. Join the free BEYOND INTUITIVE EATING Facebook group Work with Beth 1:1 SOCIAL HANDLES Website: www.bethbasham.com Instagram: @bethbasham.rdFacebook: @bethbasham.rd FOLLOW & REVIEW If you found value in this episode, please follow and leave me a review on whatever platform you're listening through. My mission is to help women end the war with their body and food so they can discover total body...
What is missing when it comes to Western medicine's standard approach to treating chronic health problems? Dr. Will Cole, author of Intuitive Fasting: The Flexible Four-Week Intermittent Fasting Plan to Recharge Your Metabolism and Renew Your Health, grew up watching his loved ones battle autoimmune disorders. Now, he is leading a movement to change the way we treat chronic diseases using functional medicine. Tune in to discover: New ways to discover the underlying causes of chronic disease How to get out of fight or flight mode and back into a state of “rest and digest” The role of intuition in intermittent fasting Dr. Cole looks beyond simple numbers and lab results in order to treat the whole patient and not just their current symptoms. His natural and holistic approach often utilizes functional medicine nutrition, intuitive eating intermittent fasting, and a hormonal imbalance diet. Understanding autoimmune thyroid disease, for example, and which foods can prompt the body to produce its own thyroid hormones can avoid unnecessary dependence on medications and highlight the importance of lifestyle in disease treatment. Intuitively intermittent fasting combined with a mostly plant based high fat, moderate protein, low carbohydrate diet has been shown to support the metabolic process and protect against insulin resistance and digestive problems symptoms. Dr. Cole's four-week plan makes the benefits of fasting and eating a plant based ketogenic diet accessible to beginners who may want to treat specific issues, improve their overall health, or both. Embracing functional medicine education can provide those suffering from chronic illness with a way to take their health and their personal power back into their own hands. To learn more or book a consult visit https://drwillcole.com/ Episode also available on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/30PvU9
My guest today is Elizabeth Wey. Elizabeth, the visionary behind Essence Of Healing, is a seasoned practitioner and educator, accredited and qualified in her field. Her profound understanding of the subconscious mind sets her apart, unrivaled in its depth and power. With over 40 years dedicated to Energy Healing and Past Life Regression, she has positively impacted countless lives worldwide. Revered in the HealingCommunity, Elizabeth is recognised as a gifted healer, author, speaker, and counselor, driven by her passion to provide a sanctuary for healing from within. Her exceptional credentials and the tangible results of her work command respect. Intuitively grasping the entirety of each situation, Elizabeth's insight is profound and unspoken. Additionally, Elizabeth served in the Royal Australian Air force during the Vietnam War in 1969. She has also authored the enlightening book, "Earth - The Toughest Bootcamp In The Universe.” and “ The Sacredness In You.”. In this episode we discuss spirituality, healing, spiritual gifts, energy and the essence of healing.Website - https://www.essenceofhealing.net/IG - https://www.instagram.com/essence_of_healingFB - https://www.facebook.com/flowwithlifeFREE Ebook Download - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kSgEP2ZU1ylw4ISQQUUBG24vh7fH_LRZ/view?usp=sharingFB Personal Profile - https://www.facebook.com/elizabethjwey In this episode you will learn:1. Why people have such a hard time tapping into and utilizing their own healing powers within.2. The unique challenges that spiritual healers face.3. Tips to lean into and start embracing your healing and intuitive gifts to shift and change your life. "Sometimes we don't realize what we're experiencing when we're children in terms of these connections to the spiritual world and the knowing of the spiritual world." - 00:06:56"We don't come here with a blank bus ticket, we come here with a ticket that's got very specific places that we need to go to, or to learn from."- 00:40:02"As it so happens, we're slow learners and I liken the soul to a multifaceted diamond and when we come on our first journey to Earth, let's just stick with Earth for the time being, this multifaceted diamond is all the little facets are opaque." - 01:01:29Are you an author speaker coach or entrepreneur building a brand in today's very crowded marketplace? How do you stand out? Join me on Sept 27th and learn how to empower your message and shine as a guest on podcasts for just $97. Imagine stepping into that interview with clarity and conviction, connecting deeply with listeners who are eager to hear what you have to say. Imagine the satisfaction of knowing you've nailed it, leaving your audience inspired and wanting more. This would position you as an authority to thousands of people in your industry. Let's turn those nerves into excitement and make sure you shine on your podcast appearance. Together, we'll boost your confidence, polish your messaging for impact, and get you ready to deliver an interview that makes people fall in love with your from the first words. Ready to shine on podcasts? Let's do this! Click the link below to register.https://empowerographypodcast.com/empower-your-messageContact Brad:WebsiteInstagramLinkedInYouTubeX (Twitter)TikTok#empowerographypodcast #women #womensempowerment #empowherment #entrepreneurship #womeninentrepreneurship #empoweredwomen #spiritualgifts #empowerelevateeducate #findingyourpurpose #podcast #spirituality #womensupportingwomen #soulalignment #heartcentered #onlinebusiness #healing #universalhealing #energy #beingagoodhuman #humanity #soulsjourney #boundaries #connection #lifespurpose #teaching #author #healingtools #unconditionallove #support #spiritualhealer #fear #uniquejourney #struggles #happiness #writing
In today's episode, I have an intimate conversation with my dear friend and client, brand consultant Kaley Isabella Singh. We explore the essentials of successfully launching (or relaunching) a brand, touching on topics that aren't typically discussed when it comes to launching — like embracing femininity, practicing self-care, the power of community, and much more. About Kaley Isabella Singh: Kaley Isabella Singh is a brand consultant and launch partner for female founders and mothers. Leveraging over a decade of experience in creative direction, strategy, and community building, Kaley guides her clients through every step of creating a compelling brand, connecting them with the right resources and people to make their dreams tangible. Kaley is known for her soulful and holistic approach to entrepreneurship. Empowering women and mothers to lead businesses grounded in rest and vibrant collaboration. Through sustainably paced brand development, personal coaching, and values-driven launch coordination services, she helps founders subvert hustle culture to create a business that's in tune with their natural pace, and a brand that supports their vision for a balanced life. Kaley's community, Casa da Sua Marca, is an ‘anti hustle-culture' brand mastermind & business community for intentional, soulful, extroverted-introverts on the path to cultivating personal sovereignty, interdependence, and professional fulfillment. In intimate cohorts designed for sustained growth and discovery, members forge lifelong friendships and support, expanding their capacities to thrive both in business and in their personal lives. Kaley's most cherished motivations include, crafting brands that evoke a sense of home, honoring intuition in both life and work, and breaking up with hustle culture for good. Tune in to hear Jessie & Kaley discuss: Kaley's background as a brand consultant and launch partner. The importance of brand evolution and how it reflects personal growth. Kaley's experience in transitioning her business to align more closely with her values and passions, including working with Jessie in The 30-day Catalyst. The key components of a successful, holistic brand launch. The importance of active rest, a circle of support, and decisiveness in the launch process. The significance of building in rest periods and setting boundaries, in both our personal and professional endeavors. The power of community in supporting female entrepreneurs. Advice for listeners on trusting their intuition and making strategic shifts in their business. The significance of being seen and perceived in a way that aligns with one's true self. And so much more! — → **JOIN THE 30-DAY CATALYST:** Partner 1:1 with Jessie for an entire month to articulate your brilliance, streamline your offer suite, and master your messaging — so you can feel total alignment in your business, make more money, and break through to the next level of your business! Spots are limited, and it's first-come, first-served! https://jessie-christensen.com/catalyst — To connect with Jessie: Instagram: @jessie__christensen Email: hello@jessie-christensen.com Website: jessie-christensen.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jessieachristensen Pinterest: pinterest.com/jessie_christensen/_saved — To connect with Kaley: Website: www.kaleyisabella.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/kaleyisabella Community and mastermind group, Casa da Sua Marca: www.kaleyisabella.com/casa
It is important to recognize that our intuition is our superpower. In this journey, we learn to listen deeply to ourselves and recognize that each step might bring a clear “yes,” a tentative “maybe” or “wait,” or a cautious “no.” To see our superpower's full potential, we must first understand how to use its basic functions before we can delve into deeper contexts and considerations. In this episode, I talk about: the three threads of guidance how to use your intuition to determine your next right step how to start envisioning your entire pathway my experience and journey working in a PR company and how my intuition said "yes, no, maybe" Mentioned in this episode: Episode 78: Expression & Magnetism Episode 79: The Four Flows of Energy 10 Tips To Build Your Intuition - download the FREE eBook here About your host, Helen Jacobs... I never set out to work as a psychic, but life had other plans! After a life-altering spirit visitation, I left a career in PR to follow my intuition in creating a platform and community for those who also want to live their true life path. Some 15 years later, I am still using my gifts to mentor, write and speak about the very same. Come say hi on Instagram or you may like to work with me, find more of my collective energy forecasts or explore all my other tools, tips and resources at helenjacobs.co.
Skip To The Juicy Parts
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: The Hessian rank bounds the learning coefficient, published by Lucius Bushnaq on August 9, 2024 on LessWrong. TL;DR: In a neural network with d parameters, the (local) learning coefficient λ can be upper and lower bounded by the rank of the network's Hessian d1: d12λd12+dd13. The lower bound is a known result. The upper bound is a claim by me, and this post contains the proof for it.[1] If you find any problems, do point them out. Introduction The learning coefficient λ is a measure of loss basin volume and network complexity. You can think of it sort of like an effective parameter count of the model. Simpler models that do less stuff have smaller λ. Calculating λ for real networks people actually use is a pain. My hope is that these bounds help make estimating it a bit easier. In a network with d parameters, the learning coefficient is always a number 0λd2. An existing result in the literature says that if you've calculated the rank of the network's Hessian d1,[2] you get a tighter lower bound d12λ. I claim that we can also get a tighter upper bound λd12+dd13, where dd1 will be the dimension of the Hessian kernel, meaning the number of zero eigenvalues it has.[3] This is neat because it means we can get some idea of how large λ is just with linear algebra. All we need to know is how many zero eigenvalues the Hessian has.[4] Singular Learning Theory introductions often stress that just looking at the Hessian isn't enough to measure basin volume correctly. But here we see that if you do it right, the Hessian eigenspectrum can give you a pretty good idea of how large λ is. Especially if there aren't that many zero eigenvalues. Intuitively, the lower bound works because a direction in the parameters w that isn't free to vary to second order in the Taylor expansion won't become any more free to vary if you pile on a bunch of higher order terms. The Second order term strictly dominates the higher order ones, they can't cancel it out. Qualitatively speaking, the upper bound works for the same reason. The higher order terms in the Taylor expansion of the loss can only matter so much. The Hessian is the leading term, so it can impact λ the most, adding 12 per Hessian rank to it. The remaining O(w3) terms can only add up to 13 for the remaining directions. The proof for the upper bound will just be a small modification of the proof for theorem 7.2 on pages 220 and 221 of Algebraic Geometry and Statistical Learning Theory. Maybe read that first if you want more technical context. Some words on notation In the following, I'll mostly stick to the notation and conventions of the book Algebraic Geometry and Statistical Learning Theory. You can read about all the definitions there. I'm too lazy to reproduce them all. To give some very rough context, K(w) is sort of like the 'loss' at parameter configuration w, φ(w) is our prior over parameters, and Z(n) is the partition function after updating on n data points.[5] Theorem: Let WRd be the set of parameters of the model. If there exists an open set UW such that {wU:K(w)=0,φ(w)>0} is not an empty set, and we define d1= rank(H) as the rank of the Hessian H at a w0U Hi,j=2K(w)wiwj|w=w0 with wi,wj elements of some orthonormal basis {w1,…wd} of Rd, then λd12+dd13. Proof: We can assume w0=0 without loss of generality. If ϵ1,ϵ2 are sufficiently small constants, Z(n)=exp(nK(w))φ(w)dw|w(1)|ϵ1,|w(2)|ϵ2exp(nK(w))φ(w)dw. Here, w(1)W/ker(H),w(2)ker(H). If we pick {w1,…wd} to be the Hessian eigenbasis, then for sufficiently small |w|>0 K(w)=12d1i,i=1Hi,iw(1)iw(1)i+O(|w|3) . Hence Z(n)|w(1)|ϵ1,|w(2)|ϵ2exp{n2d1iHi,iw(1)iw(1)inO(|w|3)}φ(w)dw. Transforming w'(1)=n12w(1),w'(2)=n13w(2), we obtain Z(n)nd12ndd13|w'(1)|1,|w'(2)|1exp{12d1iHi,iw'(1)iw'(1)i+O(|w'|3)}φ(w'(1)n12,w'(2)n13)dw'(1)dw'(2). Rearranging gives Z(n)nd12+dd13|w'|1exp{12d1i=1Hi,iw'(1)iw'(...
In this episode of The Jordan Syatt Mini-Podcast, I shoot the breeze with my podcast producer, Tony and we discuss: - Things I used to believe (but don't anymore) - The truth about organic food - How to eat and workout "intuitively" - Eating slowly is overrated - Training my puppy - Why personal training is harder than most people think - And more... Listen to my episode about when I trained at Westside Barbell HERE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-jordan-syatt-mini-podcast/id1348856817?i=1000475435823 Do you have any questions you want us to discuss on the podcast? Give Tony a follow and shoot him a DM on InstagramHERE: https://www.instagram.com/tone_reverie/ I hope you enjoy this episode and, if you do, please leave a review on iTunes (huge thank you to everyone who has written one so far). Finally, if you've been thinking about joining The Inner Circle but haven't yet... we have hundreds of home and bodyweight workouts for you and you can get them all HERE: https://www.sfinnercircle.com/
In this episode, CJ Miller addresses the common question about art techniques and tools. He emphasizes that true spiritual artists listen to their inner voice and follow their interests, rather than adhering to conventional methods. CJ advocates for a liberated approach to art, where any tool can be used, and there is no single "right" discipline. This episode focuses on: Consciousness and Creativity: Learn how to focus your consciousness to enhance creativity and align with your true self. Intuitive Listening: Practice connecting with your higher self through intuitive listening and discover the power of your inner voice. Release of Judgment: Explore the importance of releasing judgment to foster a more authentic and free creative expression. Tools and Techniques: Understand that an artist can use any tool at their disposal and that there are multiple ways to express inner knowing. Key Takeaways Spiritual Alignment: Spiritual artistry is about aligning with your higher self and tapping into the creative intelligence within you. Creative Freedom: There is no right or wrong way to create; embrace the myriad ways to express your inner knowing. Inner Focus: Learn to quiet your mind and focus your consciousness on different parts of your body to enhance your creative flow. Intuitive Space: Get into the intuitive space of the moment when you are in the art studio, allowing for a unique creation that only you can produce. Higher Self Guidance: Remember, your higher self is always telling you where to go; you just have to listen for it. Conclusion The episode concludes with a Sacred Space Meditation to listen to before you enter your art studio. This meditation is crafted to help you feel the presence of spirit within you, encouraging a profound connection with the eternal, spiritual you.
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: A more systematic case for inner misalignment, published by Richard Ngo on July 20, 2024 on The AI Alignment Forum. This post builds on my previous post making the case that squiggle-maximizers are plausible. The argument I presented was a deliberately simplified one, though, and glossed over several possible issues. In this post I'll raise and explore three broad objections. (Before looking at mine, I encourage you to think of your own biggest objections to the argument, and jot them down in the comments.) Intelligence requires easily-usable representations "Intelligence as compression" is an interesting frame, but it ignores the tradeoff between simplicity and speed. Compressing knowledge too heavily makes it difficult to use. For example, it's very hard to identify most macroscopic implications of the Standard Model of physics, even though in theory all of chemistry could be deduced from it. That's why both humans and LLMs store a huge number of facts and memories in ways that our minds can access immediately, using up more space in exchange for rapid recall. Even superintelligences which are much better than humans at deriving low-level facts from high-level facts would still save time by storing the low-level facts as well. So we need to draw a distinction between having compressed representations, and having only compressed representations. The latter is what would compress a mind overall; the former could actually increase the space requirements, since the new compressed representations would need to be stored alongside non-compressed representations. This consideration makes premise 1 from my previous post much less plausible. In order to salvage it, we need some characterization of the relationship between compressed and non-compressed representations. I'll loosely define systematicity to mean the extent to which an agent's representations are stored in a hierarchical structure where representations at the bottom could be rederived from simple representations at the top. Intuitively speaking, this measures the simplicity of representations weighted by how "fundamental" they are to the agent's ontology. Let me characterize systematicity with an example. Suppose you're a park ranger, and you know a huge number of facts about the animals that live in your park. One day you learn evolutionary theory for the first time, which helps explain a lot of the different observations you'd made. In theory, this could allow you to compress your knowledge: you could forget some facts about animals, and still be able to rederive them later by reasoning backwards from evolutionary theory if you wanted to. But in practice, it's very helpful for you to have those facts readily available. So learning about evolution doesn't actually reduce the amount of knowledge you need to store. What it does do, though, is help structure that knowledge. Now you have a range of new categories (like "costly signaling" or "kin altruism") into which you can fit examples of animal behavior. You'll be able to identify when existing concepts are approximations to more principled concepts, and figure out when you should be using each one. You'll also be able to generalize far better to predict novel phenomena - e.g. the properties of new animals that move into your park. So let's replace premise 1 in my previous post with the claim that increasing intelligence puts pressure on representations to become more systematic. I don't think we're in a position where we can justify this in any rigorous way. But are there at least good intuitions for why this is plausible? One suggestive analogy: intelligent minds are like high-functioning organizations, and many of the properties you want in minds correspond to properties of such organizations: 1. You want disagreements between different people to be resolved...
Just seven years ago, Emily had debilitating bipolar disorder. She had no hope thinking she was worthless and useless. Then things got worse. She was hospitalized and diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Intuitively, Emily turned to a carnivore diet to rid herself of autoimmune disease. She resolved multiple sclerosis within the next few months, got off all psyche meds, and lost 120 pounds. Now, as a trained therapist, she shows others how they can escape the mental health pit of hell. Instagram: / innerclaritysystem YouTube: / @emilypenton Website: https://pages.innerclaritysystem.com/... Timestamps: 00:00 Trailer. 00:49 Introduction. 05:24 Carnivore diet revealed MS. 07:16 Carnivor diet motivation. 10:42 MS and mental health issues at the same time. 13:59 Transforming decades of mental illness. 18:04 Carnivore diet cold turkey. 19:43 Pharmaceuticals. 23:30 Self-destructive behavior. 25:15 Revero uses carnivore diet when appropriate. 29:52 Being different. 31:27 Talk therapy. 39:04 Mental health meds. 42:15 Farm-fresh meat. 43:11 Reevaluating "normal" on carnivore diet. 46:34 Where to find Emily. See open positions at Revero: https://jobs.lever.co/Revero/ Join Carnivore Diet for a free 30 day trial: https://carnivore.diet/join/ Carnivore Shirts: https://merch.carnivore.diet Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://carnivore.diet/subscribe/ . #revero #shawnbaker #Carnivorediet #MeatHeals #HealthCreation #humanfood #AnimalBased #ZeroCarb #DietCoach #FatAdapted #Carnivore #sugarfree
Have you ever wondered how to tap into your intuition and let it guide you toward a more fulfilling life? In this episode of Biohacking Bestie, I am joined by a truly special guest: my best friend Sophie. As she turns 40, Sophie takes us on a journey through her life, revealing the secrets behind her holistic wellness practices, the joys and challenges of motherhood, and the importance of living intuitively.We discuss removing external distractions and societal pressures that can cloud our intuition. We also share tips for taking the time to connect with ourselves through practices like meditation, somatic experiences, and spending time in nature. You'll see that Sophie's story is a testament to the transformative power of intuitive living. From her approach to motherhood and nurturing her marriage to building a thriving business around her passions, Sophie demonstrates how following your intuition can lead to a life filled with purpose, joy, and authenticity.Sophie Jaffe started a wellness journey at a young age. She grew up appreciating and taking homeopathic medicines, flower essences, essential oils, and other natural forms of healing before Western approaches were taken. She became a certified raw vegan chef, and her passion for healthy eating led her to create Philosophie.Listen as we discuss…(00:02) Sunshine Drops and Health Journey(13:36) Finding Joy and Balance in Motherhood(20:05) Modern Parenting Challenges and Solutions(27:01) Intuition and Screen Time Detox(36:39) Discovering Intuitive Eating and Movement(43:26) Body Intuition and Energy Release(53:40) Embracing the Chrysalis Stage(56:58) Superfood Elixirs and Cosmic Energies… and more! Grab my brand-new book: Biohack Like a Woman. Order now on Amazon: http://bit.ly/3TYMz5Z Find more from Aggie: Start optimizing your health here: https://biohackingbestie.com/Get daily Biohacking Bestie tips here: https://www.instagram.com/biohackingbestie/Get a 7-Day FREE meal plan here: https://www.fitasfuck.co/mealplanFind more from Sophie Jaffe:Website: https://www.thephilosophie.com/ Use code AGGIE for a 20% discount Instagram: @sophie.jaffeThank you to our sponsors:Neurohacker: Go to neurohacker.com/bestie and try Qualia Senolytic up to 50% off and add code bestie at checkout to get an additional 15% off.Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
As the energy of Q3 asks us to prepare for change, with much to be cleaned and cleared, I'm serving up an oldie but a goodie today with some simple ways to navigate change. This episode is going to get you started by looking at the big picture of the inner change and transformation we're all moving through. This episode explores: The concept of if we want to change to happen out there, we must start changing what is happening in here Our toolkit The importance of needing to know what we want Episode mentioned, Episode 21: Expressing Your True Self Important links mentioned in this episode: To access the full Q3 Guided Collective Energy Forecast, click here If you want to Work With Me, my calendar for 1:1s is open. About your host, Helen Jacobs I never set out to work as a psychic, but life had other plans! After a life-altering spirit visitation, I left a career in PR to follow my intuition in creating a platform and community for those who also want to live their true life path. Some 15 years later, I am still using my gifts to mentor, write and speak about the very same. Come say hi on Instagram or you may like to work with me, find more of my collective energy forecasts or explore all my other tools, tips and resources at helenjacobs.co.
Until 1900, most political parties in the United States chose their leaders – either in back rooms with a few party elites making decisions or in conventions. The direct primary, in which voters select party nominees for state and federal offices, was one of the most widely adopted political reforms of the early twentieth century Progressive movement. Intuitively, the direct primary sounds democratic. Voters directly select the candidates. They have more of say over who will ultimately represent or govern them. But decades of scholarship suggests that direct primaries might not have changed the outcomes of party nominations. The conventional wisdom is that as the strength of the Progressive movement declined and voters paid attention to other issues. Party leaders were able to reassert control over candidate selection. In Reform and Retrenchment: A Century of Efforts to Fix Primary Elections (Oxford UP, 2024), Dr. Robert G. Boatright insists this narrative is incorrect and misleading for contemporary efforts to reform the primary election system in the U.S. because some of the early concerns about primaries are still with us today. The book presents data from 1928-1970 explaining the type of reforms states implemented and their success or failure. Dr. Boatright argues that the introduction of the indirect primary created more chaos than scholars have previously documented. Political parties, factions, and reform groups manipulated primary election laws to gain advantage, often under the guise of enhancing democracy. How does this history impact contemporary plans for reform of the primary system? Many suggested reforms were tried – and failed – during the 20th century. Boatright concludes that despite the clear flaws in the direct primary system, little can be done to change the primary system. Reformers should instead focus on elections and governance. The end of the podcast features his suggestions. During the podcast, Rob mentions Dr. Jack Santucci's More Parties or No Parties: The Politics of Electoral Reform in America (Oxford 2022). Dr. Robert G. Boatright is Professor of Political Science at Clark University in Worcester, MA and the Director of Research for the National Institute for Civil Discourse at the University of Arizona. His research focuses on the effects of campaign and election laws on the behavior of politicians and interest groups with a particular emphasis on primary elections and campaign finance laws. He is the author or editor of 9 books. Heath Brown and I have interviewed Rob previously on New Books in Political Science: Trumping Politics as Usual:Masculinity, Misogyny, and the 2016 Elections (with co-author Valerie Sperling) and The Deregulatory Moment?: A Comparative Perspective on Changing Campaign Finance Laws. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
Until 1900, most political parties in the United States chose their leaders – either in back rooms with a few party elites making decisions or in conventions. The direct primary, in which voters select party nominees for state and federal offices, was one of the most widely adopted political reforms of the early twentieth century Progressive movement. Intuitively, the direct primary sounds democratic. Voters directly select the candidates. They have more of say over who will ultimately represent or govern them. But decades of scholarship suggests that direct primaries might not have changed the outcomes of party nominations. The conventional wisdom is that as the strength of the Progressive movement declined and voters paid attention to other issues. Party leaders were able to reassert control over candidate selection. In Reform and Retrenchment: A Century of Efforts to Fix Primary Elections (Oxford UP, 2024), Dr. Robert G. Boatright insists this narrative is incorrect and misleading for contemporary efforts to reform the primary election system in the U.S. because some of the early concerns about primaries are still with us today. The book presents data from 1928-1970 explaining the type of reforms states implemented and their success or failure. Dr. Boatright argues that the introduction of the indirect primary created more chaos than scholars have previously documented. Political parties, factions, and reform groups manipulated primary election laws to gain advantage, often under the guise of enhancing democracy. How does this history impact contemporary plans for reform of the primary system? Many suggested reforms were tried – and failed – during the 20th century. Boatright concludes that despite the clear flaws in the direct primary system, little can be done to change the primary system. Reformers should instead focus on elections and governance. The end of the podcast features his suggestions. During the podcast, Rob mentions Dr. Jack Santucci's More Parties or No Parties: The Politics of Electoral Reform in America (Oxford 2022). Dr. Robert G. Boatright is Professor of Political Science at Clark University in Worcester, MA and the Director of Research for the National Institute for Civil Discourse at the University of Arizona. His research focuses on the effects of campaign and election laws on the behavior of politicians and interest groups with a particular emphasis on primary elections and campaign finance laws. He is the author or editor of 9 books. Heath Brown and I have interviewed Rob previously on New Books in Political Science: Trumping Politics as Usual:Masculinity, Misogyny, and the 2016 Elections (with co-author Valerie Sperling) and The Deregulatory Moment?: A Comparative Perspective on Changing Campaign Finance Laws. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history
What if I told you discovering, connecting, and understanding your Light Language's dialect is up to you? In today's episode, I'm joined by Deb Clark, Light Language Certified Healer, and Activator, Channeler, Medium, and Mentor. Several years ago, Deb had her first encounter with a spirit, which scared her to death. Then she started having clear visions of her astral self coming back into her body in her dreams. Intuitively, Deb began meditating to connect with this new side of her manifesting. She had no idea that understanding this new facet was a passage to her true self and the burial of the Debbie Downer and low-vibration person she had always been.Throughout this episode, you'll hear about Deb's incredible awakening story, the spirit guides that visit her, and her unique connection with the angelic realm. Deb also channels the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet, wife of the cosmic architect, Ptah, and mother of the mighty Imhotep. Additionally, we talk about Light and Soul Language and their dialects, channeling, human/alien hybrids, multi-dimensional realities, and much more.Tune in to Episode 214 of Uncover Your Magic and find out how to raise your vibration, connect with, and interpret your Light Language dialect. In This Episode, You Will Learn:About the difference between Soul and Light Language (7:10)What it means to activate people and why Deb knows that is her purpose (14:00)Deb explains energy codes (19:50)Everything is happening now (27:00)Deb channels the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet! (38:20)How and when are we going to start seeing aliens and human/alien hybrids (47:00)Connect with Deb Clark:WebsiteInstagramTikTokYouTubeJoin her Facebook Group, Light Language AwakeningLet's Connect!WebsiteFacebookInstagramKeywords: Light Language Activator - Psychic Medium - Channeling Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Just two weeks before her wedding, we have the honor of chatting with Katie Austin, a fitness instructor and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model! Katie Austin has fitness in her blood, as her mom is an iconic fitness instructor, Denise Austin, who has sold millions of exercise videos and DVDs! Today we dive deep into Katie's journey of following in her mom's footsteps into the fitness industry and how she really made her own journey out of it. We also discuss all of Katie's favorite fitness and wellness tips, including non-restrictive eating, creating workout plans for you, wellness on-the-go, and so much more! From landing “Rookie of the Year” with Sports Illustrated to finding her dream guy, who is now her fiance, Katie shares her incredible journey, which is proof that you should never give up on what you want out of life. You can learn more about Katie Austin by following her on Instagram HERESign up for Katie's Fitness App HEREPRODUCTS LINKED:SOLAWAVE | Advanced Skincare Wand with Red Light TherapyKorean Exfoliating Mitt CONNECT WITH ME:Follow Wellness Her Way on Instagram for podcast updates: HERE Connect with me on TikTok: HEREConnect with me on Instagram: HERESee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Wellness + Wisdom Episode 623 Wellness + Wisdom Podcast Host and Wellness Force Media CEO, Josh Trent, shares what practices you can use to deal with problems in your relationship, why the world needs freedom-focused care, and the myths you're being fed about ADHD. Send Josh your AMA Question HERE! Today's Questions Jackeline: "When you are going through the crazy cycle over and over again, you keep having the same issues and you want to reach out for help, but you're looking for something that's maybe more somatic over talk therapy. Is there anything that you would recommend for that? It would be great to know. Thanks a lot." Dr. Stanton Hom: "Being someone who is a combat veteran, somebody who has seen his friends die in combat, I sit here in the wake of this four-year psychological operation. I'm curious what you think is the key right? The powers that be, those people pulling the puppet strings behind the systems, behind your doctors, your public health officials, your legislators don't care about you, are bringing the war to our devices and are bringing the war to our children. What are some of the top things you believe must rise to?" Dana: "How come ADD or ADHD drugs are still being used to make a child or an adult and make may not be the right word but to perform or conform to society so the child can sit down at a desk why not have more outside time. I do find it interesting that those drugs are still being used and I feel, to be wrong, that those drugs lead to other later on in life. So why or how come are they still being used and promoted?" ❄️ Biohack Your Mind & Body with Plunge Ice Baths! Save $150 on your PLUNGE order with code "WELLNESSFORCE" As seen on Shark Tank, Plunge's revolutionary Cold Plunge uses powerful cooling, filtration, and sanitation to give you cold, clean water whenever you want it, making it far superior to an ice bath or chest freezer. ☀️ Live Life Well from Sunrise to Sunset Save 20% with code "WELLNESSFORCE" on everyone's favorite Superfoods brand, ORGANIFI, including their Sunrise to Sunset Bundle and their Women's Power Stack that includes HARMONY + GLOW for true hormonal balance and great health radiating through your beautiful skin. Click HERE to order your Organifi today.
"A master of forms, Merrill's later poetry rarely feels formal. In the Atlantic Monthly, poet X.J. Kennedy observed that “Merrill never sprawls, never flails about, never strikes postures. Intuitively he knows that, as Yeats once pointed out, in poetry, ‘all that is personal soon rots; it must be packed in ice or salt.'”-via Poetry Foundation Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe
Dr. Carolyn Kurle, a returning guest from long ago, joins us to discuss her latest book, The Guidance Groove: Escape Unproductive Habits, Trust Your Intuition, and Be True. Dr. Kurle is a tenured Professor of Conservation Ecology at the University of California San Diego and holds degrees in Zoology, German Literature, Wildlife Science and Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior. Written as a passion project, The Guidance Groove provides readers with a roadmap for navigating life's flow while in continual communication with their own authentic, intuitive selves. It was written for people who want to live life from a place of wholeness – and Dr. Kurle is determined to show people how beneficial trusting your instincts really is… In this episode, we discuss: How and why Dr. Kurle wrote The Guidance Groove. Why trying to do the “right thing” by society's standards can be unfulfilling. How to differentiate between our logical brains and other vital parts of our beings. Examples of “unproductive grooves” and how to recognize them. Are you interested in recognizing and dismantling the false stories you tell yourself? If so, this interview is certainly for you. Jump in now to learn how to find your groove! To find out more about Dr. Kurle and her work, click here now. Take advantage of a 5% discount on Ekster accessories by using the code FINDINGGENIUS. Enhance your style and functionality with premium accessories. Visit bit.ly/3uiVX9R to explore latest collection. Episode also available on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/30PvU9C