My Best Life

Peter Kolakovic
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  • Religion & Spirituality

Join Peter for deep, soul-stirring conversations with spiritual teachers, yogis, healers, conscious creators and everyday people as we explore the path to alignment, joy, and purpose. In every episode, Peter asks his guests one defining question: "What does it truly mean to live your best life?" From inner healing to intentional manifestation, discover diverse perspectives on how to create a life that feels good on the inside, not just one that looks good on the outside.

  1. 2d ago

    #33 – [Solo] - The attention trap: Reclaiming your mind in a distracted world

    You know the feeling: you grab your phone for one small, legitimate reason and suddenly you’re twenty minutes deep into videos you never meant to watch. That isn’t just a goofy habit. It’s a clue that our attention is being trained, pulled, and monetized, often without our consent. We talk about why modern life feels so interrupted, how the attention economy works (notifications, infinite feeds, autoplay, and the psychology of unpredictable rewards), and why the real question isn’t “How much screen time do I have?” but “Who is deciding where my attention goes?” We also zoom out. Attention isn’t only a productivity skill; it’s how life becomes vivid. If your mind is always elsewhere, days blur together, meals lose their taste, walks lose their color, and even the people you love can start to feel like background noise. We explore the spiritual side of attention too: silence can bring up anxiety, loneliness, grief, or dissatisfaction, and distraction can become a way to avoid what’s true. That’s why reclaiming focus can feel uncomfortable at first, and why it’s so worth it. From meditation to daily habits, we keep it practical. You’ll hear simple experiments you can try today: pausing before you unlock your phone, protecting the beginning and end of your day, single-tasking, restoring small pockets of boredom, turning off nonessential notifications, and choosing something worthy of sustained attention. Try the brief one-minute practice near the end, then see what changes when you “notice and return.” If this helped you, subscribe to My Best Life, share it with a friend who’s tired of endless scrolling, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What is one small change you’ll make to protect your attention this week?

    #33 – [Solo] - The attention trap: Reclaiming your mind in a distracted world

  2. 5d ago

    #32 - Michael Dorfman - Longevity in action: How to thrive in your 80s and beyond

    If you’ve been told your best years are behind you, Michael Dorfman has a different message and he’s living it. Michael is a health and nutrition coach, investigative author, and speaker who’s 84 and a half, plays pickleball regularly, and says he doesn’t just “get by” in his 80s, he thrives. We talk about what it really takes to build longevity, high energy, and resilience without getting lost in diet wars, fear-based health headlines, or the idea that decline is inevitable. We dig into the long-term case for a whole food plant-based diet, why ultra-processed foods quietly wreck health, and why fiber may be the most underrated longevity tool in the modern American diet. Michael shares the heart disease story that shifted his trust in conventional care, plus what he’s learned from the Blue Zones: plant-forward eating, daily movement, strong community, stress relief practices, and purpose that pulls you out of bed in the morning. Then we get practical and a little unconventional. We explore “positive stress” and resilience training through meditation, breathwork, intermittent fasting, hot and cold showers, and functional movement like crawling and hanging. The bigger takeaway is mindset: the identity you choose, the curiosity you keep, and the responsibility you take for your health can shape how you age far more than most people realize. If you want more energy, better habits, and a clearer plan for healthy aging, listen now. Subscribe to the podcast, share this with a friend who needs hope about aging, and leave a review telling us which practice you’re trying first. Love these conversations? Support My Best Life and help keep inspiring stories like this coming.

    #32 - Michael Dorfman - Longevity in action: How to thrive in your 80s and beyond

  3. Sep 10

    #31 – [Solo] - It’s Not About Touching Your Toes: The Deeper Meaning of Yoga

    Yoga gets sold as flexibility, fitness, and stress relief, but that version leaves out the part that actually changes a life. We start with a simple question: when you say “I do yoga,” do you mean poses, or do you mean a way of meeting your mind, your breath, and the people around you? I share how I began yoga in my early forties as the least flexible person he knew, and why that disadvantage became a teacher. An unconventional doorway, including cannabis and an intuitive stretch that unlocked real tension, turns into a deeper commitment to embodiment, discipline, and curiosity. The takeaway is not that anyone needs a substance to practice, but that yoga begins when we learn to listen to the body instead of performing for an imagined audience. From there we widen the lens: Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras on stilling the fluctuations of the mind, the difference between forcing control and cultivating quiet awareness, and why asana is only one limb of a much larger path. We talk pranayama as more than “breathing bigger,” the eight limbs of yoga, and the everyday power of yamas and niyamas like non-harming, truthfulness, non-grasping, contentment, and self-study. The Bhagavad Gita brings it home with “yoga is skill in action,” a practical framework for work, conflict, parenting, ambition, and disappointment. If you’ve ever wondered what yoga philosophy looks like in real life, press play. Subscribe, share this with a friend who thinks yoga is only stretching, and leave a review with the one place you want to practice “off the mat” next. Love these conversations? Support My Best Life and help keep inspiring stories like this coming.

    #31 – [Solo] - It’s Not About Touching Your Toes: The Deeper Meaning of Yoga

  4. Sep 8

    #30 - Sharon Salzberg - Love is an ability: Meditation, loving-kindness and beginning again

    Pain doesn’t disappear because we avoid talking about it. Sharon Salzberg explains why Buddhism’s willingness to name suffering can feel like relief, even like belonging, and how that simple honesty helped redirect her life after a childhood marked by loss and instability. From that starting point, we follow the thread that took her to India at 18 and into the intensive meditation training that later helped bring Insight Meditation and loving-kindness into Western life through the Insight Meditation Society.  We get practical about what actually changes when you practice: concentration to steady attention, mindfulness to meet whatever arises without clinging or pushing away, and loving-kindness (metta) as the quiet force that keeps the whole path humane. Sharon also flips a common fear on its head: the mind wandering is not failure. The real skill is noticing you’ve drifted and returning, again and again, building resilience you can use with distraction, stress, and the pull of your phone.  Then we go deeper into the heart practices. “Love is not a feeling, it’s an ability” becomes a framework for self-talk, repair after mistakes, and showing up for strangers without forcing a mood. We also talk about compassionate boundaries, what forgiveness is and is not, and why daily life, interruptions included, is the real testing ground for mindfulness meditation.  If you want a grounded conversation on mindfulness, loving-kindness meditation, compassion, and real-world practice, press play. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. https://www.sharonsalzberg.com/ Love these conversations? Support My Best Life and help keep inspiring stories like this coming.

    #30 - Sharon Salzberg - Love is an ability: Meditation, loving-kindness and beginning again

  5. Sep 3

    #29 - [Solo] - The Shadow Knows Your Name: Meeting the Parts of Yourself You’d Rather Avoid

    You ever notice how we “work on ourselves” in the brightest, safest places and still keep losing the same keys? We start with a simple streetlight story, then walk straight into Carl Jung’s concept of the shadow: the parts of your personality you learned to hide in order to stay loved, safe, and accepted. And no, the shadow isn’t just cruelty or greed. It can also be your buried confidence, your creativity, your strength, and your honest desire to be seen. We dig into why the shadow shows up so loudly in relationships through projection. When someone’s behavior triggers an outsized reaction, it may be pointing to something you don’t permit in yourself. We also talk about spiritual bypassing and wellness culture, where “good vibes only” becomes a sophisticated way to deny grief, anger, fear, and real boundaries. Compassion matters, but it doesn’t mean pretending nothing hurts. From meditation and Vipassana to dreams and psychedelics, we explore the tools that can reveal the unconscious, and the hard truth that insight isn’t the same as integration. The work meets you in ordinary life: criticism, disappointment, conflict, and the moments you feel defensive. Our aim isn’t perfection. It’s wholeness, the capacity to hold contradictions consciously and act with responsibility. If you’re ready to stop running toward the light and start carrying it into the dark, listen now. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review with the trigger you’re learning to understand. Love these conversations? Support My Best Life and help keep inspiring stories like this coming.

    #29 - [Solo] - The Shadow Knows Your Name: Meeting the Parts of Yourself You’d Rather Avoid

  6. Aug 31

    #28 – Bryan Blackmon – Beyond rock bottom: Sobriety, self-worth and the journey back to yourself

    Rock bottom isn’t always one catastrophic event. Sometimes it’s years of noise inside your own head, until one morning the noise stops and you finally hear the truth. Brian Blackman knows that silence. After a long run through alcohol, heroin, meth, homelessness, jail, and prison, he reaches a moment that changes his direction for good: looking in the mirror and hearing four words that land like a life raft, “You are worth it.” We talk through what addiction feels like from the inside, why so many assumptions about people struggling with substance use are wrong, and how anger and old family wounds can quietly steer your choices for decades. Brian also shares the habits that keep him grounded now: gratitude before his feet hit the floor, protecting his morning from outside inputs, sitting in stillness, reading Stoic wisdom, and closing the day with a gratitude journal and meditation. It’s a real-world look at mindset, discipline, and recovery that doesn’t rely on perfection or overnight change. Brian also tells the story behind Crab Crew Life, the coaching community he built after going viral online. He breaks down the crab as a symbol of resilience and adaptability, the “crab mentality” that pulls people back down, and why his coaching starts with listening and one percent gains that add up like compound interest. If you’re rebuilding after addiction, burnout, or a personal collapse, this conversation offers a grounded path toward self-worth, community, and a peaceful life. If this resonates, subscribe, share the episode with someone who needs a fresh start, and leave a review so more people can find these stories. Love these conversations? Support My Best Life and help keep inspiring stories like this coming.

    #28 – Bryan Blackmon – Beyond rock bottom: Sobriety, self-worth and the journey back to yourself

  7. Aug 27

    #27 - [Solo] - The Cosmic Joke: Psychedelics, Rebirth and the Mystery of Being

    A single day can split your life into “before” and “after” and sometimes that dividing line is not a milestone like marriage or illness, but a few hours of radically altered consciousness. We tell the story of a first high-dose psilocybin mushroom journey from the inside: the moment a quiet lake seems to wake up, the choice to put on eyeshades and go inward, and the heavy, unmistakable message that lands like a bell, “you must die to be reborn.” Not physical death, but the surrender of an identity you’ve been protecting for years. From there, the experience turns strange and tender at the same time: an operating-room atmosphere that feels like spiritual surgery, the sense of presences nearby, and a return-to-the-womb feeling that blurs memory, time, and self. Then the pressure breaks into the cosmic joke, laughter so deep it topples you off the couch, followed by music that stops being background sound and becomes a whole-body event. We talk about time distortion, the temptation to slap labels on everything, and why it’s honest to admit you don’t know what was literal, symbolic, neurobiological, or something else entirely. But we don’t leave the story at visions. We go into psychedelic integration and what actually lasts: the comedown, nausea, and the way perception can stay open in everyday places like a museum. We share how noticing one small shift around alcohol created enough space to quit a long habit, and how meditation, yoga, and breathwork became the quieter practices that turn a peak experience into a real life. If you care about set and setting, harm reduction, ego dissolution, and what “transformation” looks like after the trip ends, hit play. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. Love these conversations? Support My Best Life and help keep inspiring stories like this coming.

    #27 - [Solo] - The Cosmic Joke: Psychedelics, Rebirth and the Mystery of Being

  8. Aug 24

    #26 - TeZa Lord - Beyond the veil: exploring consciousness, psychedelics and the mystery of existence

    Your outer life might not be attacking you at all; it might be reflecting you. That’s where our conversation with TeZa Lord goes fast, starting with Carl Jung, the shadow, and the uncomfortable truth that real change begins inside the mind and nervous system, not in the headlines. TeZa is an author, artist, yogi, and meditation teacher with decades of seeking behind her. She shares the moments that cracked her world open, including a Nantucket UFO sighting later tied to Project Blue Book, and how it pushed her to stop accepting secondhand “truth.” From there we explore what she means by spirit as consciousness and oneness, why she doesn’t try to “prove” spirituality to skeptics, and how lived experience often reshapes the limits of what we think is possible. We also dive into plant medicine and psychedelics, the Indigenous roots of divination plants, and why these therapies are resurfacing through PTSD, anxiety, and modern overload. TeZa talks about safety, guidance, and integration, and why many people naturally turn toward yoga, breathwork, and meditation afterward. Her own path includes scoliosis, trauma, Transcendental Meditation, and a kundalini awakening that revealed the mind-body connection in a way she couldn’t ignore. Finally, we connect spirituality and ecology, framing Gaia and Earth care as a practical daily practice: use less, think better thoughts, and heal yourself so you can show up differently in the world. If you found something here that landed, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review. What idea are you taking into your day? https://tezalord.com/ Love these conversations? Support My Best Life and help keep inspiring stories like this coming.

    #26 - TeZa Lord - Beyond the veil: exploring consciousness, psychedelics and the mystery of existence
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About

Join Peter for deep, soul-stirring conversations with spiritual teachers, yogis, healers, conscious creators and everyday people as we explore the path to alignment, joy, and purpose. In every episode, Peter asks his guests one defining question: "What does it truly mean to live your best life?" From inner healing to intentional manifestation, discover diverse perspectives on how to create a life that feels good on the inside, not just one that looks good on the outside.

Information

  • Creator
    Peter Kolakovic
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    33
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 My Best Life
  • Show Website
    My Best Life