What People Do

brendanhoward
  • 5.0 (4)
  • DOCUMENTARY
  • UPDATED SEMIMONTHLY

A moment to savor intelligent conversation about ONE THING someone else is deeply invested in.

  1. Episode 96: Ari Levari made a fantasy-RPG-flavored journal for personal growth

    4D AGO

    Episode 96: Ari Levari made a fantasy-RPG-flavored journal for personal growth

    People talk about "main character energy" when it's a bad thing: You're the center of the universe, you're the hero or heroine in your story, and your story is how you see the world. Everyone is important only in how they connect to, or affect, you. You need your needs met (Karen!) before others, because, well, you're the most important person. But there's another more playful way to become the main character: in story. Pretending to be a hero—whether you get lost in a movie, a novel, or a tabletop role-playing game—can be fun, give you agency, allow you to see possibilities in your life that are papered over in the regular day-to-day grind. With that, I present to you the journal I've been using the past week or so: Just Roll With It from ParadoxPort. The habit-making, goal-seeking, fantasy-RPG-inspired notebook uses character sheets, callings, spells, maps, and monsters as playful stand-ins for a regular journal's more pedestrian language. Are you forming a new habit or weaving a spell? Are you facing a roadblock to success, or a fishy-faced Deep One? Did you die ... or did you just run into some bad luck, make some bad choices, or make a new habit that didn't quite stick? You get the idea. I'm still enjoying the journal, and I think I explain why well in this conversation with its creator, Ari Levari ...  Enjoy. P.S. No, this podcast episode is not an ad. I just really like the journal. Further threads to follow Just Roll With It: Hardback Edition (also available in printable PDF) Online storefront YouTube channel, where you can find Ari's own podcast Wondering whether to try it? "What makes Just Roll With It different from other journals or planners?" Most planners optimize productivity. ParadoxPort focuses on meaning, identity, and momentum. Instead of "do more," we help you explore how and why you change, using play as the engine. "Do I need to be a gamer to use the journal?" Not at all. While the journal is inspired by tabletop RPGs, it's designed to be approachable for beginners. If you enjoy creativity, structure, or exploring goals in a playful way, you'll feel at home.

    55 min
  2. Episode 95: Christina Neumeyer is a therapist

    FEB 17

    Episode 95: Christina Neumeyer is a therapist

    I stumbled onto Christina’s name in my quest for one of my favorite Jewish folk tales. Turns out, she’d shared a version from a Christian book on her blog, which was also filled with marvelous thinking on men and women, trauma and therapy, and ways for folks to flourish. It was a fascinating conversation touching on evergreen topics of psychology as well as a vision of problems she sees in contemporary life, especially in romantic entanglements and families. Enjoy.   Further resources Peruse Christina’s blog Read “The Sorrow Tree” post that brought me to her e-doorstep Explore her Facebook posts

    1h 10m

  3. JAN 13

    Episode 94: Rabbi Shefa Gold chants Jewishly

    There is Jewish music, with melody and harmony and rhythm. There is chanting for Torah reading, with melody and meaning.  And then there is Jewish chanting.  Rabbi Shefa Gold talks about her entry point into it, demonstrates what it sounds like, and explains how it works in this insightful conversation ...   Further resources: Rabbi Shefa Gold’s website Are We There Yet? Travel as a Spiritual Path Flavors of Gratefulness app and sample chants (link) Flavors of Praise app and sample chants (link) In the Fever of Love: An Illumination of the Song of Songs Love at the Center: Immersing in Shir Hashirim (link) The Magic of Hebrew Chant: Healing the Spirit, Transforming the Mind, Deepening the Love Torah Journeys: The Inner Path to the Promised Land

    52 min
  4. Episode 93: Dr. Kyra Bobinet studies why brains make change difficult

    08/12/2025

    Episode 93: Dr. Kyra Bobinet studies why brains make change difficult

    You’ve experienced this before, right? You know you’re supposed to do something. You’ve learned that a good habit is what you need or a bad habit needs to be changed. You know you should spend more time on this and less time on that. You know it’d be good for your emotional health, your body, or your soul. But you don’t do it. There’s a gap. Dr. Kyra Bobinet, MD-PhD, calls it the “Know-Do” gap. It all stems from work she’s done for years studying, researching and trying to make practical information about how your brain works, namely your habenula (huh-BEN-yuh-luh). It’s the part of your brain that tracks your failure. It can keep you out of trouble: “Last time you tried between those trees, you fell and almost died. Don’t do it. Bad!” But it can also keep you mired in bad habits, indecision, and self-doubt: “Remember when you tried that diet, and you fell off it? What a failure. Don’t try losing weight again. You’ll never do it! You’ll fail again!” Dr. Bobinet has a magic (but, really, not so magic) way to calm down your habenula and self-critic: the iterative mindset, which she details in her book Unstoppable Brain (2024, Forbes Books). You’ve got to change from focusing on failures and trying to keep adding good habits and removing bad habits the same way … and recognize that every time you hit a bump, it’s time for a new iteration. Change things up! What worked to help you last year, last week, yesterday, may not work again. Iterate, iterate … change, change … try, try …  I interview Dr. Bobinet here about all that, plus, especially, her nearly brand-new smartphone app Fresh Tri, which offers a platform to learn about her research and how it applies to your habits and health as well as anonymous community support and tips and ideas to change your thinking when your habenula gets going and you’re sure this one’s the absolute failure. It’s all free content and functionality right now with the possibility that more targeted videos and help might be pay-to-play. But for now … go play with all that’s there! So, stop logging failures, start logging iterations … and listen in …

    47 min
  5. Episode 92: Walter Stewart co-owns a game shop

    06/29/2025

    Episode 92: Walter Stewart co-owns a game shop

    No, not game, like deer and pheasant, but game like … board games, tabletop games, card games, miniature games. Basically, all the games of the world that happen solo, in pairs, in groups, around tables, at home, at cafes (like the one next door to his shop), and out in parks and fields and anywhere else you can roll some dice or move some tokens or share and swap some cards. Everything but the video games. The video games you go somewhere else for. Monopoly. Dungeons & Dragons. Apples to Apples. Cards Against Humanity. Vampire: The Masquerade. Warhammer 40K (this guy likes it so much, he's fighting to get a TV show made of it).  These are for the brave souls meeting at parties and in groups and using their imagination, competitive spirit, and full-throated laughter to fuel game experiences that happen in meatspace. TableTop Game & Hobby in Overland Park, Kan., has been open more than 30 years, and Stewart, years ago, was a young teen harassing the full owner then (now his partner) with stories about his games and characters and weird niche passions. Now, he gets to do the same for a new generation of teens as he’s gone from employee to manager to co-owner. Want to know more about it? Listen in … and check out these links: TableTop Game & Hobby is, by far, my favorite RPG stores, thanks to inventory and, mostly, a great big room to play in for years and the best customer service I have ever experienced in a hobby store of any kind. Visit the website online, but if you’re in town, o ever in town, go there! I’ve interviewed a lot of folks and gaming and gaming accessories, some as volunteer help for the best gaming convention I’ve ever been to, like TableTop also in Kansas City, but also for my own curiosity. Here are the episodes: My friend Jahmal, about running role-playing game sessions for money. He is a fantastic mixture of practical, philosophical, rule-delving, and story-loving. You might love getting nerdy with his stuff here, too. Gabi Dyck about hand-made dice. Sam Chupp about helping to make some of my favorite role-playing games. Noah Gibbs about helping to run another fantastic local gaming convention. KJ Davis about helping creatives get their work done.

    54 min
  6. Episode 91: Ken Fleisher made productivity tool Cherry Task

    05/14/2025

    Episode 91: Ken Fleisher made productivity tool Cherry Task

    I am a big fan of thinking of productivity and task management, but I’ve been through dozens of them and I no longer think that any tool is going to magically spirit away whatever issues I have with self-motivation, focused productivity, or values-based action. Buuut … I still like to toy with this stuff. Back in the day, David Allen’s book Getting Thing Done changed my life, and I still fall back on GTD’s principles every day. Because I like to experiment, I was willing to switch to Cherry Task from the GTD-based FacileThings in the past couple months, because Ken Fleisher’s interactions about his product and productivity in general on Reddit were so open-minded and thoughtful. So, I’ve switched to Cherry Task. I use it, on and off, every day or two. I’ve learned to enjoy being able to reach out directly to the designer every few weeks with problems. I appreciate its focus on visual appeal and usefulness of color and symbol. It’s a nicer thing to look at than many other task management or GTD-focused tools out there on the internet. If you like productivity talk, if you want to hear how the sausage of a task management app gets made, tuck your napkin into your shirt and get to it … let’s try some Cherry Task! For further reading: Request to get it on Cherry Task’s beta testing here. Read more thoughts from Ken on his blog here. WHAT?! You haven’t read David Allen’s Getting Things Done or tried out his new workbook? Buy them new in bookstores all over, or online, or used or new here.

    1h 11m
  7. Episode 90: Rabbi Simcha Raphael studies ideas on the Jewish afterlife

    04/15/2025

    Episode 90: Rabbi Simcha Raphael studies ideas on the Jewish afterlife

    He's a scholar. A therapist. And a rabbi. And all three of those disciplines have touched on his work deeply studying what Judaism has to say about the supernatural and especially the afterlife. Rabbi Simcha Raphael takes me on a fascinating, personal, and well-researched dive into his decades' long work into a realm that doesn't get as much attention as it does in Christianity: what happens to us after we die. If you think about God, life and death, and the lesser-known parts of our world, "the window, not a door" we can peek through of the afterlife, this is a must-listen ...  You may also be inspired to read one or more of his books if this conversation grabs your attention. Recommended is a visit to his Da'at Institute and the books: Musings With the Angels of Death: Poems of Love, Life and Longing, one poem from which is shared in this episode The quintessential Jewish Views of the Afterlife, now updated and in its third edition. Other books of thought and poetry on end-of-life issues and care appear on the same website.  P.S. For those into the feminine aspects of spirituality, Jewish of otherwise, an upcoming interview will feature the rabbi's wife, also a rabbi, who is working on a special deck of oracle cards drawing from Jewish ideas of the feminine aspect of God, the Sh'chinah.

    1h 4m
  8. Episode 89: Rabbi Richard Agler writes books on tragedy and Jewish views on God

    03/18/2025

    Episode 89: Rabbi Richard Agler writes books on tragedy and Jewish views on God

    After interviewing Rabbi Rifat Sonsino about a co-edited book he worked on called A God We Can Believe In, the other co-editor reached out and said he had more to say on it. Given that I peppered Rabbi Sonsino mostly about other books he'd worked on that had been influential in my understanding how pluralistic and wide-ranging Jewish views on God were, I said absolutely sure of course yes to a new interview with Rabbi Richard Agler. In this discussion, we use a little Jewish lingo (most of it explained), but overall, we're wrestling with a perennial problem with monotheism: If God is all-powerful and all-just, why do we see bad things happen to people who have not committed injustices? Why do tragedies happen to good people? Rabbi Agler's previous book, titled The Tragedy Test, wrestled with that firsthand as he, a decades-long pulpit rabbi, was faced with the unexpected death of his own child. He came out with a God that he could believe in. Then, with A God We Can Believe In, he and Rabbi Sonsino asked thinkers to share the more modern ideas about God that they use in their own lives. I especially invite you this time to buy either of Rabbi Agler's books, as proceeds go to the Tali Fund, whose good work he talks out in this podcast as well as on his own website here.

    45 min
See All (100)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

A moment to savor intelligent conversation about ONE THING someone else is deeply invested in.

Information

  • Creator
    brendanhoward
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2020 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    What People Do

You Might Also Like