Welcome to a new miniseries on Identity and Politics!
In this episode, Nic and Adam discuss the objects they carry with them, as well as the ways in which we interact with material culture inform our identity and our politics.
In the episode, Adam said that Danny Miller called blue jeans the first "post-semanitc" object, when he meant "post-semiotic" (what an idiot).
Want to let us know the things you carry? Email us at unqualified@goodlifeguide.io or message us on instagram @_goodlifeguide!
Sources:
It's time! Our annual holiday special! Only a bit late!
This is our annual episode, featuring Zac, in which we have a bit of fun, reflect on the year just passed, and make vague promises for the year ahead.
Enjoy!
This week Nic and Adam are continuing their self-help kick by taking a look at Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People and Samuel Smiles' Self Help. As with the previous book, Nic is much more receptive than Adam who is bitter and jaded. Nevertheless, here at An Unqualified Guide to the Good Life, we are not snobby about where we obtain our wisdom from, and we try to tease out the value nevertheless!
Adam's audio is a little wacky this episode. Will try and fix it for next time, apologies!
Also, a few corrections: Adam said it sold half a million copies by the time Sam Smiles died, but actually this was a quarter of a million. Furthermore, when Adam said "Great Men of history, and it is almost exclusively men", he meant those who had managed to be featured in this book.
Baby we back.
Welcome to Season Six of An Unqualified Guide to the Good Life! This season is all about ambition. To start the season off, we're starting in the same place that a lot of people start in their pursuit of ambition: self-help books. In this episode we discuss one of the best selling self-help books of all time: Mark Manson's The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck.
Nic maintains that there is some useful advice to be pulled from this book. Adam believes it to be almost meaningless drivel. Do either of them have something insightful to say? You decide!
The books Adam promised to mention were Happy by Derren Brown and The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff.
You can contact us on Instagram @_goodlifeguide or you can email us at unqualified@goodlifeguide.io
In this episode, the boys discuss ritual in its myriad forms and ponder questions such as:
And more!
Nic's sources: The Power of Ritual by Casper Ter Kuile
Adam's sources: Emile Durkheim, Clifford Geertz, Victor Turner
Oh, and as of upload, it really is Monday. It's wicked late (apologies, again), but it is Monday.
Ok, this is an episode for us.
The wonderful Zac Wolf returns for his second holiday special and it is special to have him! Join us for banter around Zac's passtimes, quiz-o-the-year style games, and all manner of eclectic facts.
There's some audio stuff, and perhaps a better editor could have fixed it, but we continue to learn.
In the edit, I feel I was a little harsh on the roast and I apologise deeply.
In this episode Nic and Adam host musician and martial artist Dr Koul aka Mike Azkoul. They rediscover some of the broader topics of the season, from what the difference between religion and spirituality is, to the definition of spirituality, the role of meditation therein, the practice of it, the world views that it can underpin and much more. A broad-ranging conversation that captures lots of ideas and the links between them, this episode really helps bring the whole season on spirit together in one place.
If you would like to learn more about the guest you can follow him on social media @drkoul_official and @cotimusic
In this episode Nic and Adam discuss Brian Draper's "Soulfulness: Deepening the Mindful Life" as a jump-off point for discussing the idea of soul and what its role in helping us to live well is. Additional thought is paid to music as a particularly 'soulful' medium and why that may be. Adam also delivers an excellent introduction, 5 seasons in he's really starting to nail them.
In this episode Nic and Adam discuss the notions of resilience and spiritedness. A lot of the talking points are drawn from Viktor E. Frankl's book 'Man's Search for Meaning' and his psychology school of logotherapy.
In this episode Nic and Adam discuss consumption as it relates to spirituality. The conversation ranges from the use of different drugs in various religious ceremonies across various cultures and the current role of alcohol in society to religiously prescribed or recommended diets and their significance.
In this episode Nic and Adam discuss nature and the degree to which nature is important for our spiritual experiences. We discuss how we relate to nature, especially in the urban environments in which most of us live. How can we overcome the alienation we feel and how can we become more connected to space? Is the language we speak part of the problem? And what is the name of that molybdomantic Swiss tradition that Adam couldn't remember the name of? (It's Bleigießen)
In this episode, Nic and Adam consider how travelling can become a spiritual practice. What can be learned from removing oneself from one's context and immersing ourselves in somewhere new? Do we need special training for this? Do we have to go far, or abroad? We still don't know the answers, but we have a wonderful time expressing our ignorance and we hope you will too!
In this episode, Nic and Adam continue pontificating about the distinction between religion and spirituality and discuss why certain experiences may qualify as one or the other. In the process of this debate, they discuss martial arts, the semantics of eating an apple, why Adam was once punished for high-fiving a vicar, and the best way to enjoy pizza.
Nic and Adam are back for Season 5, this time discussing all about spirituality! This is a big topic and one we are particularly ill-positioned to address. In this episode, we discuss what spirituality means to us, the distinction between religion and spirituality, and how science might be reconciled with spiritual goals.
In this episode, quite possibly the last of the season on the body, we discuss the role of technology in staying healthy, focusing mostly on smart watches. Apologies for the second somewhat lengthy hiatus, this was recorded a couple months ago but took a little while to edit and upload. Will be back on a regular schedule very soon!
In this episode we discuss the notion of being one's own doctor ('physician heal thyself') and where alternative medicine and healing remedies belong in the modern world.
We're back, after a brief unjustifiable hiatus - hooray. In this episode we continue with the theme of the body by discussing the idea of 'excess': what it means to overindulge, over-exert, and just generally live in the extreme.
It finally happened! In this episode Nic and Adam discuss the joys of martial arts. Included in this episode are reflections on our own experiences of martial arts, the benefits of martial arts for fitness and culture, the distinction between martial arts and combat sports, and why on earth we voluntarily subject ourselves to getting beaten to a pulp.
In this episode, Nic and Adam are joined by Devin Ibañez to talk all about team sports.
Devin is the first openly gay Major League Rugby player and is dedicated to LGBTQ+ advocacy in sport. We talked about what it means to play on a team, how individual identity relates to team identity, how sports can be made more inclusive spaces, and why it is important to do that.
Devin is working to raise money for the Transgender Law Centre (TLC) in the US. The TLC advocates for a world in which all people are free to define themselves and their futures. Grounded in legal expertise and committed to racial justice, TLC employs a variety of community-driven strategies to keep transgender and gender nonconforming people alive, thriving, and fighting for liberation.
If you wish to donate, you can do so here:
https://tinyurl.com/translawcenterfundraiser
(It might struggle with a non-US phone number. This is not a mandatory field so you can leave it blank. If you need to put in a US postcode, I tend to use “90210” from the eponymous late 00s teen drama).
Devin can be found on social media via his hand @thatgayrugger or on his website https://thatgayrugger.com
