Tim Gallwey established his reputation as a pioneer of sports psychology with The Inner Game of Tennis, which was published in 1975. After that, he demonstrated in other books how greater success in any activity is possible with some mastery of the "inner game". My objective in preparing this podcast is to make more people aware of Tim Gallwey's "inner game" approach to living.In the podcast, I discuss how Tim discovered the "inner game", and how I came to regard him as my guru, b...

In this episode I interview Leah Goldrick, a person who endeavors to apply Stoic philosophy in her daily life. Leah was recently an editor of a book of readings entitled, Stoicism Today.I met Leah through her blog, Common Sense Ethics which discusses ancient Stoic philosophy and a range of ethical issues that are relevant to life in the modern world. We begin by discussing the relationship of Stoic philosophy to the meaning of stoicism in common usage, what Leah sees as the unifying the...

Like just about everyone else in the world, I feel comforted by information that echoes and reinforces my existing beliefs. However, I think it would be good to be more open-minded about some issues. In this episode I discuss the problem that echo chambers pose for modern societies, and approaches that individuals can adopt to become more open-minded.Books referred to in the episode are:Brian Caplan, "The Myth of the Rational Voter", 2007.Julia Galef, "Scout Mindset", 2021.Robert Kegan ...

This episode may help you to think more deeply about who you are. I begin with the uncontroversial observation that personal information about you provides only superficial knowledge. Much of the discussion is about whether it is appropriate to think of our selves as fixed entities. The main theme of the discussion is that it makes sense to identify with your natural self, which embodies instinct and emotion as well as reason. The discussion draws on insights of psychologists, neurologis...

This podcast tells the story of how I gained fluency after many years of stuttering and blocking. I discuss the cognitive and behavioral approaches that helped me within a framework I find useful to my own understanding. The framework for transformational change involves five elements:Challenging the hidden assumptionAvoiding self-interferenceCoping with self-doubtAccepting whatever happens as a learning experiencePractice. There are three segments in the podcast:My story about stut...

Would you like to hear me talk about "Freedom, Progress, and Human Flourishing"?If you are not sure, listening to the first segment, which lasts about 6 minutes, will help you to make up your mind. The first segment discusses the meaning of human flourishing and provides an overview of what the book is about.My main aim in preparing the podcast has been to summarize the main themes in each chapter in order to encourage more people to read my book. The podcast may also serve as a reading...