Fill To Capacity (Where Heart, Grit and Irreverent Humor Collide)

Pat Benincasa
  • 5.0 (6)
  • SOCIETY & CULTURE
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

Podcast for people too stubborn to quit and too creative not to make a difference!Join visual artist Pat Benincasa in conversation with a riveting roster of guests to uncover extraordinary stories of everyday people. Listen as they share their quirky wisdom, unlikely adventures, and poignant life lessons! Fasten your emotional seatbelt for this journey of heart, humor and grit!

  1. Psychic Knowing in a Changing Mind With Echo Bodine

    FEB 6

    Psychic Knowing in a Changing Mind With Echo Bodine

    Send us a text What happens when a lifelong psychic begins to lose memory — but not intuition?  Nationally recognized psychic and teacher Echo Bodine reflects on life after an Alzheimer's diagnosis — and what it means to trust intuition, presence, and surrender as memory changes.  She talks about the relief of finally understanding what was happening, the unexpected gift of living one day at a time, and how vulnerability has brought her closer to people. Echo shares what an "Alzheimer's day" feels like, why she refuses to let fear spiral, and why intuition — not memory — feels most reliable now.  We also talk about staying grounded in difficult times, fighting the dark with light, and listening for the steady voice inside when everything else feels uncertain. This is a conversation about presence, courage, and what remains when certainty falls away. Today's episode is brought to you by the Joan of Arc Scroll Medal, a beautiful brass alloy medal, designed by award-winning artist, Pat Benincasa. This uniquely shaped medal is ideal for holiday or as a special occasion gift!    Visit www.patbenincasa-art.com Joan of Arc Scroll MedalThis brass alloy medal can be worn on a necklace, a keychain, dogtags, on a bag, or in your car.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Please Note: The views expressed by our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the podcaster. Follow me on Instagram!

    35 min
  2. Science, Soul, and 2nd Chances – From Saving Lives to Changing Lives

    JAN 21

    Science, Soul, and 2nd Chances – From Saving Lives to Changing Lives

    Send us a text What happens when the doctor becomes the patient? ER physician Dr. Christina Miller spent years moving fast—hospital coffee, vending-machine candy, adrenaline, and crisis care. She was trained to save lives on the edge. Then lupus stopped her cold and forced her to slow down—and listen. Chris talks about inflammation from the inside out, how food became central to her healing, and why treating symptoms isn’t the same as understanding what’s actually going on. We dig into stress, sleep, sugar, grief, and the quiet signals our bodies send long before they land us in the ER. Chris breaks down integrative and functional medicine in plain language and makes a compelling case for care that looks at the whole person—not just the problem of the day. If your health—or your stress—feels like a runaway freight train, this conversation hits the brakes! Christina Miller M.D.   Chris Miller MD on Substack  Today's episode is brought to you by the Joan of Arc Scroll Medal, a beautiful brass alloy medal, designed by award-winning artist, Pat Benincasa. This uniquely shaped medal is ideal for holiday or as a special occasion gift!    Visit www.patbenincasa-art.com Please Note: The views expressed by our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the podcaster. Follow me on Instagram!

    40 min
  3. When Story Becomes Your Way Home

    JAN 6

    When Story Becomes Your Way Home

    Send us a text What happens when curiosity turns into responsibility—and saving stories becomes the work? In this moving episode, Stephanie Detton, a 4th-grade teacher in Colorado and co-host of Italian American Stories Podcast reflects on growing up Italian American in the West.   But this conversation cracks opens something much larger: how family history lives in newspapers, memory, silence—and what’s at stake when no one pays attention. Stephanie talks about losing her grandfather, discovering genealogy, and realizing that forgotten lives don’t resurface on their own. Together with her mother Sandy, she finds Italian American stories that demand to be told—tender, difficult, and often overlooked. Crime, courage, scandal, migration, survival. Nothing sanitized. Nothing erased. This episode is about storytelling, and responsibility- about history not as a textbook, but as real people living real lives. And about the power of recording what came before us- before it disappears. If you’ve ever wondered where you come from—or what might be lost if no one asks—this conversation is for you. Today's episode is brought to you by the Joan of Arc Scroll Medal, a beautiful brass alloy medal, designed by award-winning artist, Pat Benincasa. This uniquely shaped medal is ideal for holiday or as a special occasion gift!    Visit www.patbenincasa-art.com Joan of Arc Scroll MedalThis brass alloy medal can be worn on a necklace, a keychain, dogtags, on a bag, or in your car.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Please Note: The views expressed by our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the podcaster. Follow me on Instagram!

    41 min
  4. A Familiar Tune Rewrites The Moment

    12/19/2025

    A Familiar Tune Rewrites The Moment

    Send us a text What if the songs that shaped you could one day save you? When Justin Russo watched 4,000 people wave back at him in perfect rhythm during a music festival, he discovered something profound about connection—but it would take years before he understood music's deeper power.  Now, as Director of Programming at the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function, he's part of a mission asking: how far can music reach into a person's neurologic world, and what can it bring back?  Justin reveals why your teenage soundtrack never leaves you, shares the moment a woman with dementia stood up and danced to a song she hadn't heard in decades, and explains how a simple playlist can help someone recognize their family again.  From the "long goodbye" of dementia to caregivers juggling impossible demands, this episode reveals what awakening actually looks like—and offers practical tools you can use today. Because sometimes healing arrives not in milligrams, but in melodies that know the way home. Links: Institute for Music and Neurologic Function Music & Memory Program Today's episode is brought to you by the Joan of Arc Scroll Medal, a beautiful brass alloy medal, designed by award-winning artist, Pat Benincasa. This uniquely shaped medal is ideal for holiday or as a special occasion gift!    Visit www.patbenincasa-art.com Joan of Arc Scroll MedalThis brass alloy medal can be worn on a necklace, a keychain, dogtags, on a bag, or in your car.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Please Note: The views expressed by our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the podcaster. Follow me on Instagram!

    43 min
  5. 1-800-RU-Kidding-Me: Wild Cards

    12/02/2025

    1-800-RU-Kidding-Me: Wild Cards

    Send us a text Tired of doom scrolling?  Try life scrolling. This episode tracks down the wild cards- moments that flip the script, rewrite what’s possible, and proves that the future is still wide open. No spoilers — just know this: you’re about to hear ten stories you didn’t see coming! Quiet, bold, disruptive… and absolutely real. When the world feels predictably dark, hit the reset button, and expect the unexpected! *To see full podcast sources, please go to my website: https://benincasa-pat.squarespace.com/config/pages/647de73982ba465e47aba72f Joan of Arc Scroll MedalThis brass alloy medal can be worn on a necklace, a keychain, dogtags, on a bag, or in your car.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Please Note: The views expressed by our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the podcaster. Follow me on Instagram!

    23 min
  6. Digital Detox and the Great Unscroll

    11/26/2025

    Digital Detox and the Great Unscroll

    Send us a text In a world wired for breaking news and dopamine scrolling, writer and dad-of-two, Jason Bartz, did the unthinkable- he ditched his smartphone for a dumb phone. Not as a gimmick, but as a line in the sand — for his time, his kids, and his sanity. Jason takes us into the raw aftermath of stepping off the digital treadmill: the awkward boredom, the unexpected quiet, and the intense way the world starts to show up again — on a run, at the dinner table, in the small, ordinary moments with his kids. He brings us into a bare-bones world where film cameras slow your pulse, fewer choices open more space, and presence stops being a luxury. We also get into the hard stuff: data mining, kids’ apps, and how to model balance in a culture that  pushes “more screen, more now. If you’ve ever looked up from your screen and thought, “I need a reset” this conversation is your nudge to try something different. (( Whoa! It must be in the air- Ryan Holiday, of the daily Stoic, did a podcast episode with NY Times, bestselling author, Sebastian Unger called: "Log Off Now." "Sebastian talks about why he refuses to get a smartphone, how technology gives us the illusion of control..."   Check it out: https://dailystoic.com/youre-addicted-to-the-illusion-of-control-sebastian-junger-pt-1/ Today's episode is brought to you by the Joan of Arc Scroll Medal, a beautiful brass alloy medal, designed by award-winning artist, Pat Benincasa. This uniquely shaped medal is ideal for holiday or as a special occasion gift!    Visit www.patbenincasa-art.com Joan of Arc Scroll MedalThis brass alloy medal can be worn on a necklace, a keychain, dogtags, on a bag, or in your car.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Please Note: The views expressed by our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the podcaster. Follow me on Instagram!

    45 min
  7. Our Candy Machine Cosmos

    11/07/2025

    Our Candy Machine Cosmos

    Send us a text Whoa! In this 7-minute episode, we step into the Candy Machine Cosmos — where you insert something small — a coin, a thought, a risk — and what comes back is always unexpected: sometimes grace, sometimes grief, but always a call to see anew.  OR- Watch 3+ minute YouTube video!  👀 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn3JKG_AJ_8 🎬 This as a 3-minute v.i.s.u.a.l journey, where color, rhythm, and chance collide in the Candy Machine Cosmos — a place where curiosity feeds creation and every risk reveals something unexpected. Watch, listen, and see what the universe gives back. Joan of Arc Scroll MedalThis brass alloy medal can be worn on a necklace, a keychain, dogtags, on a bag, or in your car.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Please Note: The views expressed by our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the podcaster. Follow me on Instagram!

    7 min
  8. Click. Post. Gone? What Is Your Digital Legacy?

    10/31/2025

    Click. Post. Gone? What Is Your Digital Legacy?

    Send us a text Got emails? A blog? Social media? A website? Then you’ve got a digital trail—but what happens to it when you’re gone? In this eye-opening episode, Len Rosen—futurist, tech writer, and founder of the site 21stCenTech —asks the questions we avoid:  What happens to your Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Apple, and Google accounts? Who has access? Who decides? What just… disappears?  From rented movies and dusty blogs to forgotten passwords and digital ghosts, Len breaks it down with sharp insight and dry wit. Click. Post. Gone. What stays, what vanishes—and who gets to decide? 🌟 Bonus: Download the free Digital Legacy Starter Sheet (link in show notes). Because someday, someone you love will be glad you did.     Links: 21stCenTech.com Digital Legacy Starter Sheet PDF Today's episode is brought to you by the Joan of Arc Scroll Medal, a beautiful brass alloy medal, designed by award-winning artist, Pat Benincasa. This uniquely shaped medal is ideal for holiday or as a special occasion gift!    Visit www.patbenincasa-art.com Joan of Arc Scroll MedalThis brass alloy medal can be worn on a necklace, a keychain, dogtags, on a bag, or in your car.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Please Note: The views expressed by our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the podcaster. Follow me on Instagram!

    46 min
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5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

Podcast for people too stubborn to quit and too creative not to make a difference!Join visual artist Pat Benincasa in conversation with a riveting roster of guests to uncover extraordinary stories of everyday people. Listen as they share their quirky wisdom, unlikely adventures, and poignant life lessons! Fasten your emotional seatbelt for this journey of heart, humor and grit!

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