Design Review - podcast for Engineering Your Life

Robert

Welcome to "Design Review"! With host, Robert Haines, this is the podcast for Engineering Your Life.  Robert interviews people who have an active or planned project that contributes to others.  The style is casual, engaging and enthusiastic. Following the format of an engineering design review, Robert chats with guests about their project or objective, what led them to pursue it, how it's going, future plans and any connections they are seeking to support their efforts. Along the way, there is always animated discussion about life, philosophy, boundaries, and always a discussion about uplifting others. Come watch an episode - or more - and be uplifted by Robert's amazing, inspired, and inspiring guests from all over the world!

  1. 4d ago

    Good Grief! What If Grief Wasn't Something To Fix?

    Podcast Season 2, Episode 10 - with Kelly Saindon and Paula Emeigh - 08/10/2026 Kelly Saindon and Paula Emeigh are two people who have arrived at grief work through very different paths and remarkably similar callings. Kelly is a licensed spiritual practitioner, master clinical social worker, death doula, grief facilitator, and artist. For the past several years she has been helping people navigate loss through grief groups, Death Cafés, retreats, and creative healing experiences. Paula is a licensed spiritual practitioner whose own lifelong experiences with grief inspired her to become a compassionate companion, listener, prayer partner, and source of support for others moving through difficult seasons of life. What brings them together is a shared belief that grief is far bigger than most people realize. In this conversation, we explore the misconceptions many of us have about grief, including the myth that it follows neat "stages" or that people should simply "get over it." Kelly and Paula explain how grief affects not only our emotions, but also our bodies, minds, relationships, identities, and spiritual lives. We discuss grief that comes from losing loved ones, but also grief connected to retirement, caregiving, divorce, illness, disability, career changes, pets, community, and any significant life transition. At the center of our conversation is the Art Grief Group they have created together at New Vision Center for Spiritual Living. The group combines education, creative expression, compassionate listening, and community support into a safe environment where people can explore loss without being judged, fixed, advised, or rushed through their process. Their work is built around a simple but powerful idea: grief is not something we get over. It is something we learn to companion throughout our lives. Along the way, we discuss healing, spiritual practice, support groups, caregiving, unresolved grief, anticipatory grief, the importance of being witnessed by others who understand, and why creativity can open doors that conversation alone sometimes cannot. If you've ever experienced loss, supported someone who has, or found yourself struggling with a life transition that seemed harder than it "should" have been, this conversation offers a compassionate and deeply human perspective on what grief actually is and how healing happens. New Vision Center for Spiritual Living: https://newvisioncsl.org/ Event link: https://newvisioncsl.org/events/nvc-art-grief-group/2026-09-12 Registration link: https://nvc.breezechms.com/form/NVCArtGriefGroup13 Engineering Your Life: https://www.engineeringyourlife.net/

  2. Aug 15

    Peace, Prosperity, and Beingness - A Conversation with Jocelyn Nowak

    Podcast Season 2, Episode 9 - with Jocelyn Nowak - 07/27/2026 Jocelyn Nowak is one of those people who seems to live at the intersection of worlds. With nearly two decades in healthcare and health technology, she helps organizations bring more humanity into the systems that shape people's lives. At the same time, through Peaceful Prosperity Studio, she teaches and practices Reiki, yoga, herbalism, and other approaches to healing, self-awareness, and personal transformation. Whether she's helping build healthcare technology, supporting a client, leading a retreat, or facilitating a conversation around consciousness, her work is ultimately about the same thing: helping people reconnect with themselves. Jocelyn is also one of my coaching clients. That makes this conversation a little different. When we started working together, Jocelyn described herself as energetic, driven, and often bouncing off the walls. What I've had the privilege of witnessing since then is a transformation into a level of groundedness, presence, patience, and self-trust that she now carries into every area of her life. As she says during this conversation, she feels more connected to her authentic self, more emotionally regulated, and more at peace with whatever life brings than at any previous point in her journey. In this episode, we talk about helping people without depleting yourself, building a life around peace and prosperity, healthcare innovation, Reiki, consciousness, Jungian psychology, dreams, archetypes, presence, freedom, and what happens when you learn to stop fighting reality and start working with it. We also pull back the curtain on the coaching process itself, offering an unusually candid look at what coaching can be, what it is not, and how inner work creates visible changes in the real world. If you've ever wondered what it looks like when an already gifted helper becomes more fully themselves, you're about to meet Jocelyn. Jocelyn's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jocelynnowak/ Jocelyn's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jocelynno/ Jocelyn's Website: https://jocelynnowak.com/ Engineering Your Life: https://www.engineeringyourlife.net/

  3. Jul 31

    Not Unhinged - Liberated | A Conversation with Cat O'Shaughnessy-Coffrin

    Podcast Season 2, Episode 8 - with Cat O'Shaughnessy-Coffrin - 07/23/2026 I met Cat O'Shaughnessy-Coffrin on LinkedIn and have been reading her writing ever since. About work, grief, parenting, therapy, divorce, dating, and the beautifully messy realities of being human. She is the founder of Captivating Consulting and one of the most unapologetically authentic people I've encountered online. We started out talking about leadership, branding, and communication. That lasted about five minutes. Instead, we talked about what happens when people stop performing and start telling the truth. We explored grief, inherited family patterns, raising children without teaching them to shrink themselves, and the surprising freedom that can emerge from life's biggest disruptions. Cat shared stories about navigating divorce in a small Vermont town, dating in midlife, and learning to approach people with curiosity rather than judgment. Somewhere between a screwdriver handed across the front row of a school concert, dating-app adventures, and honest conversations about family and healing, the deeper theme became clear. This episode is ultimately about liberation: the freedom that becomes available when we stop trying to look perfect and allow ourselves to be fully seen. Or, as one of Cat's former colleagues told her, maybe she's not unhinged. Maybe she's liberated. Life is short. Be captivating. Connect with Cat: https://captivatingco.com Cat's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catlino/ Engineering Your Life: https://www.engineeringyourlife.com

  4. Jul 9

    The Book Was Never The Point - A Conversation With Melanie Bates

    Podcast Season 2, Episode 7 - with Melanie Bates - 06/30/2026 Melanie Bates came onto the podcast to talk about writing.  That was our plan. Instead, we ended up talking about grief, belonging, shadow work, recovery, criticism, creativity, and what happens when life finally becomes too painful to keep living from the outside in. For more than a decade, Melanie helped authors write bestselling books. What she eventually realized was that the book itself was rarely the most important thing. The transformation was. This conversation felt less like an interview and more like two people comparing notes on the long journey of becoming themselves. We explored Jung's idea that creativity emerges from somewhere deeper than conscious effort - and what transforms when we learn to listen - and trust. We talked about the fear of being seen, the pressure to belong, the wounds that shape us, and the surprising freedom that comes when we stop trying to force the river and simply learn to work with its flow. By the end, I wasn't thinking about books at all. I was thinking about the people writing them - including Melanie and me. And perhaps that's exactly the point. Connect with Melanie: https://melaniebates.com/ Melanie's Substack: https://melaniembates.substack.com/?r=525vww&utm_campaign=subscribe-page-share-screen&utm_medium=web Engineering Your Life: https://www.engineeringyourlife.net/

  5. Jun 11

    Nice Doesn't Win - On Boundaries, Big Systems, and Being Yourself

    Podcast Season 2, Episode 6 - with Kelli Boyden - 06/7/2026 I met Kelli Boyden in the weird corner of LinkedIn and knew within five minutes I needed to have her on the show. Kelli spent 25 years as an attorney fighting for people being pushed out of their homes and denied insurance coverage by systems that were never designed to let them in. Then she walked away, went to Cornell, got an MS in pharmaceutical science, and built something entirely new. In this conversation we talk about fighting big systems, the cost of being nice for too long, and finding your people by simply being yourself. And somewhere in the middle of it all, Kelli asks me if I know anyone who teaches a workshop on boundaries. I might have mentioned one - join us June 19 and 26.  Here is the link to register: http://www.engineeringyourlife.net/boundaries-workshop  Engineering Your Life: https://www.engineeringyourlife.com Connect with Kelli: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelliboyden/ Kelli's website: https://kelliboyden.com

  6. Apr 21

    I Care About People That Care About People

    Podcast Season 2, Episode 5 - with Amber Hubert - 4/14/2026 I met Ambra Hubert because she put out an idea in the Weird LinkedIn community. A spontaneous, creative, truly wonderful idea to publish a Zine for and about and BY the community. I had no idea what a "Zine" was - I had never even seen one! But Ambra was so warm and generous and enthusiastic, and the contributions poured in. At the last minute, I felt the call of inspiration and submitted a hand drawn sketch drawn on Engineering Computation pad. And now I can call myself a published artist. That experience introduced me to Ambra, and, in doing so, made it clear to me that I wanted to meet her, so I instigated a coffee chat. (This is often how I end up meeting podcast guests!) 5 minutes into our chat about life, survived trauma, and creativity I knew I was not going to accept "No" to my podcast invitation. Luckily, she didn't put up a fight! Ambra is a lifelong creative who made a sharp turn into business - working in corporate communications, heading up community at a startup, co-founded a poetry press, started and edited a zine, and is now running a weekly newsletter that helps people tell the stories of personal transformation and taking their own sharp turns. She has lived in five countries, speaks three languages, and brings all of herself into everything she does. In this conversation, we talk about what it means to show up as yourself in a space that was never designed for that. We talk about Weird LinkedIn - not as a hashtag, but as a genuine act of rebellion against performative connection. We talk about the Weird Professional Zine, and Permission Slips newsletter and how community became Ambra’s drug of choice. We talk about the things that just pop into your head. About the side quests that felt like detours but turned out to be preparation. About why people don’t answer the hard questions about themselves - and what community has to do with finally being willing to show up authentically. Somewhere in the middle of all of this, we both realized that what we’re each doing - in our own ways - is very much related at its core: Helping people feel safe enough to be real. Connect with Ambra: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ambra-hubert/ Permission Slips: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/permission-slips-7419778664252338176/ Weird Professional : https://lnkd.in/g6a34bJF Engineering Your Life: https://www.engineeringyourlife.net

  7. Apr 11

    The Journey, Not The Destination - A Conversation With Jason Koster

    Podcast Season 2, Episode 4 - with Jason Koster - 2/27/2026 Jason Koster is a friend I've known for many years. We used to hike and backpack all over Arizona. He joined me for more stretches of the Arizona Trail than anyone else. And when I decided to gear up for a 23-day traverse of the John Muir Trail in the Sierra Nevada mountains, Jason said yes to joining me, lugging a high resolution camera and tripod to take epic photos of the sights on the highest altitude scenic trail in the US. It is my pleasure to introduce my listeners to Jason - who embodies both the soul of an artist and the engineering ingenuity involved in solving problems as they arise. Jason is a photographic artist. And what started as a way to share beautiful places with his parents became something much larger - panoramic landscape photography that doesn’t just capture a scene, each image tells a story. A conversation between light and shadow, rock and water, the left side and the right side of a world that doesn’t fully fit in a frame. This conversation is ostensibly about his panoramic landscape photography project. But it became something else entirely - something bigger and more meaningful. We talked about what 23 days in the wilderness does to a person. About the songs that get stuck in your head when fear creeps in. About filtering water and how it somehow feels like cheating death. About broken spoons, blown-out boot laces, and duct tape as a life philosophy. We talk very seriously about how life (and the trail) is truly about the journey and not the destination - and how the landmarks you spend months anticipating can't quite compare to the quiet miracle of just being out in nature and wonder. And we talk about what it means to be an engineer learning to live more like an artist. To plan enough to survive - and be open enough to for transformation. This episode is an adventure in and of itself. Buckle up and enjoy! Connect with Jason: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-koster-photography/ Jason's website: www.kosterart.net Engineering Your Life: www.engineeringyourlife.net

  8. Mar 28

    The Wisdom Is Already Within You - On Coaching, Recovery, And Coming Home

    Podcast Season 2, Episode 3 - with Darren Lyons - 2/11/2026 I’m really glad to welcome Darren Lyons back to Design Review. And I knew when we started talking again that this conversation was going to go somewhere good. Darren and I met through our Jungian life coaching program at CreativeMind University - where we got to know each other deeply, coached each other, and discovered just how much our paths overlapped. He is such a grounded and quietly wise man. And what he’s building with Lyons Life Coaching (LLC, LLC ;-)) is something the world genuinely needs right now. In this episode, we talk about the people Darren works with - high performing professionals who have achieved much on the outside, but are quietly running on empty on the inside. People who know they want more, but feel like there is nothing left in the tank to get there. We talk about slowing down in a world that only rewards speeding up. About the difference between doing and being. About addiction - not just to substances, but to work, to screens, and to busyness itself - as a way of avoiding the present. We talk about trees. About yin and yang. About Winnie the Pooh and Taoism - and about why, if you could have figured it out yourself, you already would have. This episode is truly a conversation between two people who have done the work and are still doing it. I think you’ll feel that. Connect with Darren: www.linkedin.com/in/darren-lyons-54584891/ Engineering Your Life: www.engineeringyourlife.net

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About

Welcome to "Design Review"! With host, Robert Haines, this is the podcast for Engineering Your Life.  Robert interviews people who have an active or planned project that contributes to others.  The style is casual, engaging and enthusiastic. Following the format of an engineering design review, Robert chats with guests about their project or objective, what led them to pursue it, how it's going, future plans and any connections they are seeking to support their efforts. Along the way, there is always animated discussion about life, philosophy, boundaries, and always a discussion about uplifting others. Come watch an episode - or more - and be uplifted by Robert's amazing, inspired, and inspiring guests from all over the world!

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