In this second episode of Existennial I explain my strong đof giving general life advice. (How-to's like how to layer rugs, keep a baby alive or pair wine with curry are guidance I appreciate.)
I then talk about why I much prefer sharing ideas and sparking stuff for people with STORIES. I quote a Spanish philosopher's thoughts on being a teacher and then recap a smart psychologist's studies on "narrative identity," --> basically whether you're aware or not, we're each stringing snippets of our life together so our existence at least makes a little sense and isn't just some random series of events. Yeah, we go high brow.
After that, I storytell my personal narrative ie. what happened with my [most recent] existential crisis.
I wrap with some strong opinions on cheese, a major warning about The Bachelor Franchise, and a paraphrase of Neil Patrick Harris.
I hope you find value in this!
To sign up for my frequent-ish newsletter filled with all sorts of fun meaningful things that I'm hoping to be like an Orange Tic Tac in your inboxâsomething delightful, refreshing, and peppy, click here: https://taliapollock.substack.com
(That's also how I'll send you a written version of each episode if you sometimes fancy reading a la phone a la toilette.)
Welcome to Existennial, a podcast where I shoot the shit about how we shape our life's own meaning on this random-ass planet and do so without miserably copy-and-pasting someone else's life or drowning in a pee-infested pool of personal responsibility anxiety.
It's where we'll investigate intentional living through a smorgasbord of science, spirituality, psychology, philosophy, pop culture, eavesdropping, and thoughts-I-have-in-the-shower.
I'm Talia Pollock, an author, columnist, and lover of the yoga pose pigeon. I've been questioning the meaning and mocking the absurdity of life since diapersâand I've been writing about it since tampons.
If you're a millennial going through an existential crisis otherwise known as a quarter-life crisis..or a mid-life crisis.. a .33333333 life crisis or just a regular damn Tuesday, I am oh so glad you've landed here.
To sign up for my frequent-ish newsletter filled with all sorts of fun meaningful things that I'm hoping to be like an Orange TicTac in your inboxâsomething delightful, refreshing, and peppy, click here: https://taliapollock.substack.com
(That's also how I'll send you a written version of each episode if you sometimes fancy reading a la phone a la toilette.)
This episode might come as a shock. Or it may not. Either way itâs here and youâre listening to it so how bout I stop guessing what emotion it might bring and just let it bring it! It has been the journey of all journeys to go on this ride with you. I thank you from the very bottom of my heart for giving me your most precious resource, your time and lending me your hopefully not too waxy ears to speak into all these hours over all these years.Â
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If you have ideas for what you might want to hear more of as I rethink how I want to continue podcasting in the future, email me at talia@partyinmyplants.com. And on www.taliapollock.com/hello you can also sign up for my newsletter which is the best place to stay up to date with all my things! Of course, if you want the greatest thing to come out of this podcast, my book, stuffed to the brim with all the puns and healthy nuggets youâve eaten up in this here podcast, my book Party in Your Plants is a thing you can buy wherever books are sold.Â
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If the past 207 episodes has taught me anything, itâs that my hypothesis about partying in our plants was right on the money. In fact, I said it in episode 1 of the podcast: our greatest health & happiness comes from eating way MORE PLANTS than you do CRAP.Â
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And The only way to guarantee weâll ACTUALLY eat the plants is to take the HELL out of HEALTHY, which I think we did mighty well in this year ERA of the PIMP podcast.Â
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So with that I say eat your plants with a smile, monitor your mental health, love AND BLOW yoâself and iâll catch you in my new projects so stay in the loop with me at taliapollock.com/hello so I tell you about future projects. LOVE YOU GOODBYE.Â
Sheâs a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, a professional chef, a trained nutrition specialist, a food psychiatrist, the author of This is Your Brain on Food and just overall foodie brainiac. This chat with Dr. Uma Naidoo covered how the state of your mental health often starts with what you ate for dinner. As she says, âHappy gut, happy mood!â We talked about so much mood-boostinâ stuffs including how the gut and the brain are waaaay more closely linked than you thought. (Heard it here first before it goes mainstream!) Now, this is a chat that will have you turning your ahhhh to hahas and will have you revamping your shopping list. Yes, if youâre on a prescription, it wonât hurt to try out these brain food tips and no, Iâm definitely not telling you to swap out your meds. As Dr. Uma says: you have to eat anyway, so adding healthy brain food to the plate is kinda a low hanging fruit. Her pun, not mine. Surprisingly!Â
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BUY MY BEST SELLING BOOK, PARTY IN YOUR PLANTS
Where to buy Amazing Grass goodies and save 30% with code: PLANTPARTY30
Where to buy Four Sigmatic Magic Mushroom Products and save 15% with code: âPARTYINMYPLANTSâ
Book me to speak at your college, conference or company!
Where Iâd much appreciate you leaving a review for the show in iTunes!!
Party in My Plants on Instagram
Nikki Brafman is a human design expert (in fact, sheâs MY human design expert!). So much about what I teach is about living in alignment, stepping up to be your best self and living a life that is self loyal. Without human design, I wouldnât be living my best, fullest and truest life. Or at least I wouldnât have the verbiage to describe myself. If you read my recent Mindbodygreen article I shared how Human design legitimately changed my life. I am so thrilled to have Nikki to thank for showing me the Human Design ropes. And telling you all about the magical ropes too, in this here chat. >> PS. Get your free Human Design chart here to help you understand this episode better! <<
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The full show notes with all the deets from this episode!
BUY MY BEST SELLING BOOK, PARTY IN YOUR PLANTS
Where to buy Four Sigmatic Magic Mushroom Products and save 15% with code: âPARTYINMYPLANTSâ
Book me to speak at your college, conference or company!
Where Iâd much appreciate you leaving a review for the show in iTunes!!
Party in My Plants on Instagram
Miss Simi Botic is a barre instructor, a health coach, the author of Letting Go Of Leo and the smarty yoga pants wearing brain behind Unmeasured. That last one is basically a ballet-meets-pilates class⊠but one that focuses on body positivity and self-compassion. (As in diet culture turns of phrase arenât allowed and body punishing mentalities will be kicked to the curb!) This chat was all about embracing movement that we love in a self-compassionate way that has nothing to do with earning food or shedding calories. This is the podcast episode where we kinda just said it as it is: that there are ways to enjoy your studio or gym or road time because of the joys that come with it. Joys that have nothing to do with weight or body composition! And you know what, just like healthy eating, your workout doesnât have to suck! For the story on how Simi went from a compulsive exercise obsessed gal to the one who teaches a warm-hug-of-a-body-positive barre class, press play!Â
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Links related to this episode:
The full show notes with all the deets from this episode!
BUY MY BEST SELLING BOOK, PARTY IN YOUR PLANTS
Where to buy Four Sigmatic Magic Mushroom Products and save 15% with code: âPARTYINMYPLANTSâ
Book me to speak at your college, conference or company!
Where Iâd much appreciate you leaving a review for the show in iTunes!!
Party in My Plants on Instagram
My lady Tricia Huffman a.k.a. The Joyologist a.k.a. affirmation queen a.k.a. the shitty thought police (OK, enough of the a.k.a.s, we get itâŠ) is my latest and greatest guest. The woman is more super than a superfood itself and as such, this lilâ chat was even more invigorating than my post-run heaped-with-greens smoothie. Tricia has a background as a sound engineer, has spent so much of her life on the road and pivoted her whole lifestyle to be one focused on joy, positive affirmations, cultivating career success and happiness, and staunchly askewing the word âshouldâ and all that it represents. Her whole *fig*gin jam is to wake people up to the joys that exist RIGHT NOW in their lives. My friend, donât let these great days perish like wilted romaine lettuce that you forget at the back of your damn fridge! Listen to find out how to fill your life with joy ASAP.Â
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The full show notes with all the deets from this episode!
BUY MY BEST SELLING BOOK, PARTY IN YOUR PLANTS
Where to buy Amazing Grass goodies and save 30% with code: PLANTPARTY30
Where to buy Four Sigmatic Magic Mushroom Products and save 15% with code: âPARTYINMYPLANTSâ
Book me to speak at your college, conference or company!
Where Iâd much appreciate you leaving a review for the show in iTunes!!
Party in My Plants on Instagram
Weâve heard about making our bank accounts work for us, weâve heard about making our businesses work for us⊠but what about our home sweet home? Jamie Gold is a home design marvel and the author of a new book: Wellness By Design, A Room-by-Room Guide to Optimizing Your Home for Health, Fitness and Happiness and her whole philosophy is that if you wanna get healthy, start with your space. We covered so much in this episode from revamping the kitchen, organizing the damn stacks of papers (I know you got âem) on your counter, embracing hacks that are going to make your home more comfortable and really thinking through how we put together the rooms that now have multiple purposes. (Home-office-turned-gym-turned-reading-corner, Iâm looking at you!) I know I learned a thousand things about how to make my space work for me so that I can live my best, healthiest, sanest, life. (Even if it includes getting the dorky cushy floor mat) Of course, we brought some planty magic to turn this housewarming party up to 11.Â
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The full show notes with all the deets from this episode!
BUY MY BEST SELLING BOOK, PARTY IN YOUR PLANTS
Where to buy Four Sigmatic Magic Mushroom Products and save 15% with code: âPARTYINMYPLANTSâ
Book me to speak at your college, conference or company!
Where Iâd much appreciate you leaving a review for the show in iTunes!!
Party in My Plants on Instagram
This week on the pod is all about less stuff, more adventure, more freedom and the MOST fun chats with Miranda Anderson. ICYMI, I had a major move last year where Jesse, Tommy and I carted our stuff away from tiny apartments in NYC and into an amazing home in the woods where plants grace my presence the minute I walk out the front door. Behind the scenes on this whole transition was Miranda Anderson, established blogger and author of More Than Enough: How One Family Cultivated A More Abundant Life Through A Year Of Practical Minimalism whose book I listened to on repeat at least three times. In this talk we discussed how your stuff is holding you back from adventure, why practical minimalism is bound to bring fulfillment, why lipstick is freaking awesome and why open mindsets can lead to Puerto Rico or Texas or the woods oâ New York or wherever your heart leads you. Iâd say this episode with Miranda left me with more than enough! Â
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The full show notes with all the deets from this episode!
BUY MY BEST SELLING BOOK, PARTY IN YOUR PLANTS!
Where to buy Amazing Grass goodies and save 30% with code: PLANTPARTY30
Where to buy Four Sigmatic Magic Mushroom Products and save 15% with code: âPARTYINMYPLANTSâ
Book me to speak at your college, conference or company!
Where Iâd much appreciate you leaving a review for the show in iTunes!!
Where you can go to suggest a guest (yourself or someone else) for the show!
Party in My Plants on Instagram
When it comes to the good olâ socially distanced plant partying, Tara Kemp is the guest of honor. Tara specializes in something so, so important and so, so valuable that I have the utmost respect for this gal. She helps women struggling with eating disorders recover through a plant-based eating philosophy. Having struggled with an eating disorder herself (which btw, she attributes to crippling anxiety that was left untreated) Tara, who is pursuing her phd in psychosocial health, knows a thing or two about exerting control over food, and the mental health roots in disordered eating. Her story is an empowering one. But the empowerment doesnât stop with this special womanâs journey⊠we also chatted about deciding how you want to interact with food, movement, and in deciding which information to live by and which info to take with a grain of celery salt. I might as well call this one the Suit Yourself Episode.Â
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The full show notes with all the deets from this episode!
BUY MY BEST SELLING BOOK, PARTY IN YOUR PLANTS!
Where to buy Amazing Grass goodies and save 30% with code: PLANTPARTY30
Where to buy Four Sigmatic Magic Mushroom Products and save 15% with code: âPARTYINMYPLANTSâ
Book me to speak at your college, conference or company!
Where Iâd much appreciate you leaving a review for the show in iTunes!!
Where you can go to suggest a guest (yourself or someone else) for the show!
Party in My Plants on Instagram
My dear friend Robyn Conley Downs is a speaker, educator, entrepreneur, podcaster, and new author of The Feel Good Effect: Reclaim Your Wellness By Creating Small Shifts That Create Big Change. (She was also interviewed in episode 132.) Holding a Masterâs degree in education with an emphasis in behavior change, and 4 years of public policy & health change at the doctoral level, her work taps into cutting edge science around psychology, neuroscience, mindfulness, and habits. I mean, itâs all great to educate and inspire based on personal experience, but itâs also great to have solid profesh research to back that jazzzz up. What I heart most about Robyn is not just her willingness to be honest and vulnerable about her shtuff, not just her mission to embody and amplify a gentle approach to wellness, but her super nerdy professional research background which she draws on to share cutting edge science-based, (and life-tested) radically simple solutions for wellness. Her motto is âLess striving, more ease.â And my instruction is to press play for how.
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Links related to this episode:
BUY MY BEST SELLING BOOK, PARTY IN YOUR PLANTS
Where to buy Four Sigmatic Magic Mushroom Products and save 15% with code: âPARTYINMYPLANTSâ
Book me to speak at your college, conference or company!
Where Iâd much appreciate you leaving a review for the show in iTunes!!
Party in My Plants on Instagram
My friend, Dr. Lauren Cook used to be best known as âThe Sunny Girl,â and let me tell you, Iâm probably not the only one who needs a lilâ ray of sunshine in this crazy, confusing and turbulent calendar year. This talented and wise gem of a human is a therapist, a speaker and a published author whose main goal is to help other people live according to their values. (Easy pea-sy, slice of carrot cake right?) Way back in the day when I first met Lauren, I picked her brain and she was generous enough to share her beautiful ideas with me. I had to have her on and share her wisdom with her sweet cat purring in the background. SO, in this chat, we discussed defining personal values, decision making, addressing mental health during the pandemic, finding joy during hard times and looking not just at the shades of blue and red⊠but finding the purple middle ground! I loved it and I hope you will too!
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Oh and sheâs putting on this wonderful Hearth Conference in Cctober! She compiled a ton of inspirational and healing speakers to share nuggets of wisdom to help you feel cozy and connected on World Mental Health Day which is October 10th and then beyond b/c really every day should be world mental health day nah mean? Tickets start at $48 and you can get them here!Â
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BUY MY BEST SELLING BOOK, PARTY IN YOUR PLANTS
Where to buy Four Sigmatic Magic Mushroom Products and save 15% with code: âPARTYINMYPLANTSâ
Book me to speak at your college, conference or company!
Where Iâd much appreciate you leaving a review for the show in iTune
Dr. Rev. Christopher Carterâs jaw-dropping impressiveness doesnât stop at his credentials. I felt like I was in school during this interview because Christopherâs views, research, background and way of explaining Black veganism and cruelty-free eating was better than any binge-worthy docuseries Iâve ever come across during this pandemic season!Â
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His passion for social justice, racial equality, food, animals and the environment made this such an incredibly energy-packed plant party. I loved his points about how vegan lifestyles that are self-centered donât really bring the impact that they could have. He schooled me to the apple core. In our chat that I never wanted to end, Christopher explains how we can fill our grocery bags and load up our dinner plates in a way that doesnât cause harm and is in solidarity with BIPOC people and their history. I mean, if you ever needed a powerful âWHYâ to change your dietary lifestyle habits⊠this is it!Â
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The full show notes with all the deets from this episode!
BUY MY BEST SELLING BOOK, PARTY IN YOUR PLANTS
Where to buy Four Sigmatic Magic Mushroom Products and save 15% with code: âPARTYINMYPLANTSâ
Book me to speak at your college, conference or company!
Where Iâd much appreciate you leaving a review for the show in iTunes!!
Party in My Plants on Instagram
Dr. Yami (rhymes with Mommy) has it going on. Sheâs a pediatrician (who only owns her own practice), an author, a health and wellness coach, a mom, a wife, the brains behind Veggie Fit, a podcast host, a speaker and a kick-ass family chefâŠand in this chat she really spills the *beans* on some great parenting truths that we all really needed to hear. We chatted about body positivity, not conflating inner health with outer appearances, encouraging kids to feel open minded at dinner time, allowing your youngins to eat intuitively, and backing the heck off to let them do so! Seriously, this episode was great. We tooks myths around children leading a vegan lifestyle and smashed âem up like a ripe avocado! And holy guacamole, do I ever feel like we packed this episode with all the good stuff and left no questions unanswered for our planty moms and dads or anyone caring for our inner child out there!   Â
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Links related to this episode:
The full show notes with all the deets from this episode!
BUY MY BEST SELLING BOOK, PARTY IN YOUR PLANTS!
Where to buy Amazing Grass goodies and save 40% with code: PLANTPARTY40
Where to buy Four Sigmatic Magic Mushroom Products and save 15% with code: âPARTYINMYPLANTSâ
Book me to speak at your college, conference or company!
Where Iâd much appreciate you leaving a review for the show in iTunes!!
Where you can go to suggest a guest (yourself or someone else) for the show!
Party in My Plants on Instagram
So, you know I wrote a book right?! Well even though itâs a cooking one, I was able to stuff more words in it than I do spinach in smoothies. And in this episode, which Iâm recording just before I go on my annual summer beach vacation where Iâll be glued to sand and books and watermelon for 3 weeks, I wanted to read some of the words in MY BOOK to you all about having a house party in your plants! At the end I ask you to take my anonymous super short ~ willpower ~ survey which you can do right here :-)
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If you like what you hear, you can BUY MY BEST SELLING BOOK, PARTY IN YOUR PLANTS!
You can also purchase my favorite magic mushrooms, Four Sigmatic, for 15% less than other people!
Check out my new empowering videos a la THE BLOW SHOW!
So, you know I wrote a book right?! Well even though itâs a cooking one, I was able to stuff more words in it than I do spinach in smoothies. And in this episode, which Iâm recording just before I go on my annual summer beach vacation where Iâll be glued to sand and books and watermelon for 3 weeks, I wanted to read some of the words in MY BOOK to you all about my thoughts on the triumphant trio: CHEESE, GLUTEN, and PROTEIN .. OH MY. At the end I ask you to take my anonymous super short ~ willpower ~ survey which you can do right here :-)
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If you like what you hear, you can BUY MY BEST SELLING BOOK, PARTY IN YOUR PLANTS!
Check out my new empowering videos a la THE BLOW SHOW!
So, you know I wrote a book right?! Well even though itâs a cooking one, I was able to stuff more words in it than I do spinach in smoothies. And in this episode, which Iâm recording just before I go on my annual summer beach vacation where Iâll be glued to sand and books and watermelon for 3 weeks, I wanted to read some of the words in MY BOOK to you all about how to turn your clean-food frown upside down. At the end I ask you to take my anonymous super short ~ willpower ~ survey which you can do right here :-)
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If you like what you hear, you can BUY MY BEST SELLING BOOK, PARTY IN YOUR PLANTS!
Where to buy Amazing Grass goodies and save 40% with code: PLANTPARTY40
Check out my new empowering videos a la THE BLOW SHOW!
So, you know I wrote a book right?! Well even though itâs a cooking one, I was able to stuff more words in it than I do spinach in smoothies. And in this episode, which Iâm recording just before I go on my annual summer beach vacation where Iâll be glued to sand and books and watermelon for 3 weeks, I wanted to read some of the words in MY BOOK to you all about cravings. At the end I ask you to take my anonymous super short ~ willpower ~ survey which you can do right here :-)
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If you like what you hear, you can BUY MY BEST SELLING BOOK, PARTY IN YOUR PLANTS!
Check out my new empowering videos a la THE BLOW SHOW!
When I first met todayâs guest who is the wonderful woman the world calls Nicole Jardim (a.k.a. The Period Girl) years and years ago we were in a mess hall (at an adult sleepaway camp called Soul Camp). My friends were crowding her (back when personal space wasnât a danger) to ask their juicy Qâs about their menstruation and I looked her in the eye with my nuva ring wedged in real deep and said âI donât need period help, I donât even get mine!âÂ
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Well hashtag mega grateful only skims the surface that I got this do-over with her. In this chat, which I sorry not sorry but kinda sorry used as a personal consultation, we covered everything from my messy period moment at my Bat Mitzvah to my confession that Iâm on birth control and *gasp* that Iâm ready to break up with it. I learned a lot - seriously, I felt like I was a 12-year-old in sex ed class. Really, how was there SO much about my body that I didnât even know?! Well, Nicole, whose new book, Fix Your Period, came out around when mine did, breaks down some really need-to-know facts, dismantles the crazy wives tales and myths and sets us straight for once and for all that eating our plants helps our hormones, which I then tried and was perfect proof for. Period. Â
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BUY MY BEST SELLING BOOK, PARTY IN YOUR PLANTS!
Where to buy Amazing Grass goodies and save 40% with code: PLANTPARTY40
Book me to speak at your college, conference or company!
Where Iâd much appreciate you leaving a review for the show in iTunes!!
Where you can go to suggest a guest (yourself or someone else) for the show!
Jenn Racioppiâs health journey starts off really really tough. In her late teens and early 20s, Jennifer got two gynecological cancer diagnoses which led to her having a hysterectomy, being launched into early menopause and being prescribed tons of medications for depression, anxiety and hormone replacements. Donât worry, the story has a positive ending which basically blew my socks off. This was in the 1990s and when Jennifer ventured to San Diego in search of better healing practices, she came across a woman who did her (shockingly accurate) tarot reading. From there, Jennifer started to dig into astrology, the planets, the moon cycles and all things related and it wound up being the biggest step sheâs ever made towards healing. Today, sheâs a genius in all these things and even has a book coming out soon. But before we get to all that jazz, hereâs your astrology 101 class where I admit that Iâm as much as an astrology newbie as anyone ever and Jennifer says hilarious things like âPluto? Yeah heâs ruthless AF.â Enjoy!Â
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Links related to this episode:
The full show notes with all the deets from this episode!
BUY MY BOOK, PARTY IN YOUR PLANTS!
Where to buy Four Sigmatic Magic Mushroom Products and save 15% with code: âPARTYINMYPLANTSâ
Book me to speak at your college, conference or company!
Where Iâd much appreciate you leaving a review for the show in iTunes!!
Where you can go to suggest a guest (yourself or someone else) for the show!
Party in My Plants on Instagram