Humans, being. with Lael Stone

In this joyful, giggly and wise conversation, I sit down with Mia Wisinski, founder of Playful Heart Parenting, and a mum who will happily make a car seat buckle fart if it means getting a toddler in their car seat.I've been calling Mia the queen of play for a while now... so I was surprised to hear she didn't come to mothering as a playful parent at all. She became a stepmum first, suddenly and unexpectedly, and felt she had to earn her place by being the best, most together, most perfect version of herself. It took years to loosen her grip and find her way back to the goofy theatre kid who used to roll around on the floor making whale sounds.We talk honestly about the days when play is the last thing in the tank, when you're running late and you can feel the "three, two, one" rising in your throat. Mia shares how she catches herself in that millisecond, and why it's always ok when she can't.We explore:The tender pull of step-parenting, being asked to love them as your own without oversteppingHow our own childhood imprints shape whether being silly feels safeWhen to put the playfulness down, and why attunement always comes firstMia's favourite games for little ones, kids and tweensFlirting with your partner through your kid, and playfulness as a love languageWhat felt so beautiful to me was Mia's belief that laughter is how we tell each other we're safe. A fart noise. A "who are you, and what have you done with my son?" at bedtime. Silly messages carried between mum and dad over the toothbrushes. Each one says the same thing to a child... you can be your full, weird self here. And I reckon that might be one of the most loving imprints we can leave.[Recorded Online May 2026]About Mia Wisinski:Mia Wisinski is the US-based founder of Playful Heart Parenting, a community of over half a million parents on Instagram. A former theatre educator, performer and songwriter with a BFA in Musical Theatre from California State University, she makes play feel doable for ordinary parents in the middle of ordinary, overwhelming days. She's a mum of two and a stepmum, and grew up the child of two eccentric musical theatre hippies, which explains a lot (in the best way).Connect with Mia:Instagram: @playfulheartparentingWeb: playfulheartparenting.com—Seen Circles is an online space Lael and Sam created where parents can join facilitated group sessions, some themed, some open, at times that suit their week. There's no pressure to share, just a place to feel less alone in the hard parts of parenting. You can join for one session, or sign up for more.

In this brave, tender conversation, I sit down with Tanja Lee, mindset and leadership specialist, Chief Energy Officer of The Evolution Agents, and a woman who, at six, lined up her toys in a semicircle to play teacher, something she knew, even then, she was meant to do.Tanja shares about growing up with a parent living with alcohol addiction, and all she learnt to navigate from having that imprint in her life.As well as discussing how living with an addict has impacted her, we talk about the moment she became a mum, and the lioness in her finally drew a line. Tanja also brings the science to how we can shift our mindset, heal our past, and create the future we desire.We explore:Loving a parent with addiction, and separating the person from the behaviourWhy so many children decide their job is to take care of the grown-upsBoundaries, distance, and loving someone from afarBeing addicted to disappointing yourselfBreath as the very first doorway out of stress and survivalBreaking the chain so the next generation doesn't carry itThis topic is one many people may relate to, but what is so beautiful in this conversation is the tools and insights Tanja shares on how we can heal our story and create the life we desire.[Recorded May 2026]About Tanja Lee:Tanja Lee is the Chief Energy Officer of The Evolution Agents, where she teaches real estate and property leaders how to step out of stress and into their potential, using neuroscience, NLP, and a whole lot of heart. She's a Neuro Change Solutions consultant personally trained by Dr Joe Dispenza, a HeartMath consultant, a Master NLP Practitioner and Trainer, and a multi-award-winning speaker and coach. She lives in country Victoria with her husband Matt, is mum to two grown daughters, and is the best voice note friend a woman could ask for.Connect with Tanja:Web: theevolutionagents.comInstagram: @theevolutionagentsLinkedIn: Tanja LeeIf this episode hits close to home:Please reach out to Lifeline on 13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au—Seen Circles is an online space Lael and Sam created where parents can join facilitated group sessions, some themed, some open, at times that suit their week. There's no pressure to share, just a place to feel less alone in the hard parts of parenting. You can join for one session, or sign up for more.

In this tender, honest, and quietly fierce conversation, I sit down with Taryn Brumfitt, the filmmaker behind Embrace and Embrace Kids, 2023 Australian of the Year, and a woman who’s spent more than a decade asking us to stop apologising for the bodies we live in.I first watched Embrace in a cinema back in 2016, with my (then) 13-year-old daughter. I still remember the sadness that moved through my body that night... nobody had ever spoken to me like that when I was her age. And underneath it, this enormous joy that she was getting a different story than the one I got.Taryn and I get into the imprints. The change room floors, the monkey bars, the throwaway comment at a table that lands in a young body and just stays there for forty years. We talk about what it’s cost us, all those hours spent at war with ourselves, and what opens up when we put the weapons down.Taryn shares what being Australian of the Year revealed to her: that she’s strong and she’s tough and she can still be hurt. And she shares the losses in her own family that shaped her relationship with trust.We explore:Why what we say at home matters more than anything on a screenMaking peace with a body that never stops changingFocusing a little more on how you feel than how you look, and what that could shiftHabit stacking, the inner critic, and giving yourself five minutes to talk smackWhat we say about ageing, and why we could be so much gentler with it[Recorded Online May 2026]About Taryn Brumfitt:Taryn Brumfitt is an Adelaide-based filmmaker, author and speaker, and she is the reason a lot of us started talking about our bodies differently. In 2013, she posted a reverse before-and-after photo, her bodybuilding competition body as the before and her natural post-babies body as the after, and it went everywhere. Around seven thousand emails and messages came back, and they were not light. She made Embrace in 2016 and Embrace Kids in 2022, she co-founded the Embrace Collective, she was named Australian of the Year in 2023 and awarded an honorary doctorate by Flinders University in 2024. She’ll also tell you straight that she is still a harsh critic of herself.Connect with Osher:Instagram: @bodyimagemovementThe Embrace Collective (and all the free resources): theembracehub.comTaryn's online community: Embrace YouWatch: Embrace (2016)Watch: Embrace Kids (2022)If this episode hits close to home:Butterfly Foundation, for body image and eating disorders: 1800 33 4673, butterfly.org.auLifeline: 13 11 14, lifeline.org.au—Seen Circles is an online space Lael and Sam created where parents can join facilitated group sessions, some themed, some open, at times that suit their week. There's no pressure to share, just a place to feel less alone in the hard parts of parenting. You can join for one session, or sign up for more.

In this hopeful and honest conversation, I sit down with David Bott, best-selling author and education consultant, and a man who still gets choked up about a teacher who was there for him when he was thirteen.I'll put my hand up here... for a long time I was one of the loudest voices saying the system was broken. David gently invites me to look at the other side of that story. He's worked with over a thousand schools around the world, and what he sees is a lot of magnificence. Educators doing extraordinary things, often despite everything we keep piling on them.In this conversation, we talk about grades and who they really serve – homework, and what it costs a family at the end of a long day. Teachers performing like elite athletes with no time to recover. And the kids we worry about least, the quiet ones who often slip through unseen.We explore:Why the "education is broken" story can harm the very people holding it togetherThe best teacher David ever saw, and why a whole system can't run on heroesGrades, homework, and the old Latin question David keeps asking: who does this really serve?How AI might be nudging schools back towards the most human skills of allWhen I ask educators about the teacher who changed them, they talk about the one who noticed them, who believed in them, who helped when things were hard. None of that shows up in a test score or a headline... and it's happening in classrooms everywhere, every single day.[Recorded May 2026]About David Bott:David Bott is a best-selling author, education consultant, and former teacher who co-founded The Wellbeing Distillery, helping schools around the world build wellbeing into the way they actually run. He was a founding member of the UAE Government's Dubai Future Council for Education, sits on the board of the Positive Education Schools Association, and co-wrote 10 Things Schools Get Wrong (And How We Can Get Them Right) with Dr Jared Cooney Horvath. He's also a dad to a ten-year-old who is just discovering homework.Connect with David:Web: thewellbeingdistillery.comInstagram: @thewellbeingdistillery—Lael's eight-week Parenting Immersion starts October 19th, working through themes like trust, boundaries, anger and repair to help you understand your own patterns and respond instead of react. Join the waitlist or sign up now.

What if the fight in the back seat is really a red flag... and your child is waving it at you?In this honest, practical, and gentle solo episode, I'm talking all things siblings. The squabbles over who got more ice cream, the toddler showing the new baby a little too much "love", the teens hurling spicy words down the hallway... and the parent standing in the middle of it all, muttering, why can't you just get along?This one comes straight from my DMs. So many of you have asked how to navigate sibling rivalry, and I wanted to sit down with you, like we're having a cuppa, and share what I've learnt over 26 years of being a mum and many years of walking alongside families. Why sibling conflict is so normal, what often sits underneath it, and what we can do in the moment when it all kicks off.I explore:Why family is one of the first training grounds for conflictKids being in balance and out of balance, and the "backpack" of big feelingsWhat gets stirred up in us as parents when our children clashSpaciousness, safety and helping everyone be heardRepair without forced apologies, and filling up each child's cupEvery time our kids fight, we get another chance to show them what conflict can look like... someone calm arrives, everyone is kept safe, everyone gets a turn to be heard, and there's always a way back to each other. It's slow, it's messy, and some days we lose our cool completely. But little by little, that pattern can become theirs, and the sibling who drives them up the wall today might just be the one they laugh with the longest.[Recorded October 2026]About Lael Stone:Lael Stone is an educator, counsellor, and author of Own Your Story: Understanding your past to create your future. With over 20 years of experience working with families, Lael helps people understand how their childhood imprints shape their adult lives – and how to do something about it.Connect with Lael:Instagram: @laelstoneWebsite: laelstone.com.au—Connect with Humans, being:Web: humansbeing.auInstagram: @humansbeingwithlaelstoneThreads: @humansbeingwithlaelstoneFacebook: @humansbeingwithlaelstoneYouTube: @humansbeingwithlaelstoneHumans, being. is produced on the lands of the Bunurong and Wadawurrung people. We pay respect to their unique and diverse cultures and to elders past, present and future.—Join me for the Parenting Immersion. My eight-week Parenting Immersion starts October 19th, working through themes like trust, boundaries, anger and repair to help you understand your own patterns and respond instead of react. Sign up now.

"You've gotta walk across the bindis a bit to get to the swimming pool."What if everything you’re hoping for is sitting on the other side of the thing you keep avoiding?In this open, tender and surprisingly funny conversation, I sit down with Osher Günsberg, a man who has been in Australian living rooms for nearly two decades, and who spent a lot of that time doing the hardest work of his life off camera.We talk about the version of Osher that millions of us watched on Idol and The Bachelor, and the version who went home afterwards. He speaks with such generosity about sixteen years of sobriety, about the drinking and the painkillers, about periods of psychosis, and about the day he rang twenty-three people just to get through it. He’s very clear that none of it was solved by clever thinking. What saved him, every single time, was other humans.We explore:The three great lies our brain tells us: this is permanent, this is personal, this is everythingWhy you can’t think your way out of thinking, and what to reach for insteadSpeaking plainly about a psychosis diagnosis... it’s grim, but so is a compound fractureBeing a stepdad first, and the grace of honouring the dad who is already there[Recorded Online June 2026]About Osher Günsberg:Osher Günsberg has been a familiar face and voice in Australian homes for close to twenty years, from Channel V to seven seasons of Australian Idol, a decade of The Bachelor, and the narration on Bondi Rescue. He’s also a podcaster, best-selling author, award-winning doco maker, mental health advocate, husband, dad and stepdad. He’s been sober for more than sixteen years and speaks about it the way it was first spoken to him, plainly and without shame, so the next person doesn’t have to work it out alone.Connect with Osher:Instagram: @osher_gunsbergPodcast: Better Than YesterdayBook: So What? Now What?Linktree: /osher_gunsbergIf this episode hits close to home:There are many doors into support, and they all do the job. National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline 1800 250 015, free and confidential, 24 hours; Lifeline 13 11 14. And Osher's own advice, which costs nothing: before you pick up a drink, pick up the phone.—Lael's eight-week Parenting Immersion starts October 19th, working through themes like trust, boundaries, anger and repair to help you understand your own patterns and respond instead of react. Join the waitlist or sign up now.

"It's not the distress that hurts kids. It's being alone in the distress." Karen YoungWith the noise of the world, the endless information, the sense that our nervous systems have hit the limit, I asked Karen how she's finding it, and she said it's a constant battle. Some days she wins it, some days she doesn't.In this episode, Karen talks about wanting our kids to feel safer and do the brave things. Not one or the other. We discuss anxiety and how we've started pathologising a very normal human response, and in doing that we've made it harder to move our kids towards bravery. She opens up on her own childhood with no adult to lean into. We also discuss schools, and the one question she'd ask if she could only ask one. And step-parenting, which she says is the hardest thing she has ever done.We explore:Why anxiety is a normal human response, and what we've done to parents by putting "disorder" on the end of itThe difference between a child being unsafe and a child being uncomfortable, and why that distinction changes everythingWhat actually traumatises kids, and why it’s almost never the hard thing itselfWhy kids are telling us they don't want more resilience, and what they want instead[Recorded Online June 2026]About Karen Young:Karen Young is a former psychologist with an honours degree in psychology and a master's in Gestalt therapy. She founded Hey Sigmund after realising how much power sits in solid information, and her articles now reach millions of readers a year. She wrote the best-selling Hey Warrior for her own daughter, and she's the author of five other books. She's recognised for her expertise in school refusal, which she calls anxiety-based school absenteeism, and she's a mum to two children and two stepchildren.Connect with Karen:Instagram: @karenyoung_heysigmundWeb: heysigmund.comFacebook: Karen Young Hey Sigmund—Connect with Humans, being:Web: humansbeing.auInstagram: @humansbeingwithlaelstoneThreads: @humansbeingwithlaelstoneFacebook: @humansbeingwithlaelstoneYouTube: @humansbeingwithlaelstoneHumans, being. is produced on the lands of the Bunurong and Wadawurrung people. We pay respect to their unique and diverse cultures and to elders past, present and future.—Lael's eight-week Parenting Immersion starts October 19th, working through themes like trust, boundaries, anger and repair to help you understand your own patterns and respond instead of react. Join the waitlist or sign up now.

The loudest voice in our heads often says: “what are you waiting for?” Luke Cook has spent his whole life answering that question by just jumping in.Underneath the million followers and the characters and the Netflix devil is a guy who shared that his ongoing battle is feeling like he falls short of everything. That rejection still stings, seventeen years in, and it stings because he still cares. We talk about what we make things mean, and how quickly we all default to our not-enoughness. We talk about his boys, and the birth pool, and the terrifying business of being watched that closely by three small humans. And we land somewhere I loved: if you are having fun, you are probably in the right place.We explore:Why Luke doesn’t experience his biggest leaps as risksThe thing school tries to beat out of you that turns out to be your secret sauceGrowing up the last of five in a Bible college, and why a minister's kid was always going to end up performingThe joyous, ridiculous business of poking fun online, where the line sits, and what he does when he gets it wrongThe gap between how the world sees you and how you see yourself, and the inadequacy story that runs underneath itThree boys, two home births, and the best piece of advice he has for partners in a birth spaceThe imprint he hopes is loudest in his sons' heads when they grow up[Recorded Online June 2026]About Luke Cook:Luke Cook is a Sydney-born actor, writer, director and content creator who has lived in Los Angeles since he was twenty-two. He is best known for playing Lucifer Morningstar in Netflix's Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and most recently starred in the Stan Original series Good Cop/Bad Cop, which earned him a Logie nomination. Away from the screen he has built an audience of around a million people on Instagram through his original comedy characters, co-founded the health and wellness brand Shakewell, and is dad to three young boys with his wife Kara.Connect with Luke:Instagram: @thelukecookTikTok: @thelukecookWeb: thelukecook.comShakewell: getshakewell.com—Connect with Humans, being:Web: humansbeing.auInstagram: @humansbeingwithlaelstoneFacebook: @humansbeingwithlaelstoneHumans, being. is produced on the lands of the Bunurong and Wadawurrung people. We pay respect to their unique and diverse cultures and to elders past, present and future.—Lael's eight-week Parenting Immersion starts October 19th, working through themes like trust, boundaries, anger and repair to help you understand your own patterns and respond instead of react. Join the waitlist or sign up now.

“Play is an on-ramp, not a reward” Dara Simkin says early on in our conversation. Yep, that resonates. I too have spent most of my life saving play for after the list is done. The list is never done.Dara brings play to boardrooms and leadership days, and what she describes is a generation of adults so addicted to achievement that they have optimised themselves right out of their own lives. We talk about grief hiding inside what looks like resistance, about her redefining success as ease, and about the morning her five-year-old lost it over a Rubik's Cube and what she chose to do instead of fixing it.We explore:The difference between real curiosity and judgment wearing a curious costumePlay as a recovery tool for a fried nervous system, and why the micro moments countAchievement addiction, and how gold stars and trophies quietly become a mortgage and a boat you’re not sure you wantedWhy adaptability is just play in a fancy suit, and what that means for the kids coming up behind usThe question she asks herself at the end of each day: “how was I human today?”[Recorded May 2026]About Dara Simkin:Dara Simkin is a Melbourne-based speaker, facilitator and organisational culture specialist, and the founder and Chief Play Officer of Culture Hero. Born and raised in the US, she moved to Australia at 25 after winning a video competition that sent her around Tasmania in a camper van, and she has spent the last decade researching, designing and facilitating play at work. In March 2026, she co-published Full Stack Human with data scientist and futurist Tane Hunter, about how we hold onto our humanity and adaptability in a world moving faster than we are.Connect with Dara:Instagram: @darasimkin https://hbp.s.gy/buJKhqWeb: culturehero.co https://hbp.s.gy/qtzEtILinkedIn: Dara Simkin https://hbp.s.gy/dDDAGIBook: fullstackhumanbook.com https://hbp.s.gy/P49x3Q—Connect with Humans, being:Web: humansbeing.auInstagram: @humansbeingwithlaelstoneHumans, being. is produced on the lands of the Bunurong and Wadawurrung people. We pay respect to their unique and diverse cultures and to elders past, present and future.—Lael's eight-week Parenting Immersion starts October 19th, working through themes like trust, boundaries, anger and repair to help you understand your own patterns and respond instead of react. Join the waitlist or sign up now.

A ninety-five-year-old told Jacinta she was the last of her tribe. Jacinta asked how that small body holds something so big, and she said she has to feel the loss but not go too far into it … when it gets close she goes outside and listens to the magpies. That is the whole human experience in one sentence. In this episode we talk about the moment women become invisible, and how much earlier that lands than anyone admits. We talk about bodies, and about Jacinta's fierce insistence that we stop policing each other. She tells me what chronic illness took from her in her late twenties, and about the moment in her parents' spare room when it turned. And then she tells me about her friends in their nineties, and honestly, I want what they have.We explore:The unconscious loyalties we carry, and what happens when you put one downWhat chronic illness took from Jacinta, and why she now calls it ‘the opportunity of illness’The bottom of the pool, and why she reckons nobody can stay thereHer friends in their nineties, the rebels, and what they understand about time that we don’tWhy nobody needs your solution, and the deep listening none of us were taught[Recorded May 2026]About Jacinta Parsons:Jacinta Parsons is a Melbourne-based broadcaster, author and public speaker who currently hosts the Friday Revue and Saturday Mornings on ABC Radio Melbourne. She started out at community station Triple R in 2006 and joined the ABC in 2015. She has written three books, Unseen, A Question of Age and A Wisdom of Age, moving from her own experience of chronic illness into the far bigger question of what this country does to women as they age. She is an ambassador for Crohn's and Colitis Australia, and she has just finished her PhD.Connect with Jacinta:Instagram: @jacintaparsonsWebsite: jacintaparsons.comABC Radio Melbourne: abc.net.au/melbourne—Connect with Humans, being:Web: humansbeing.auInstagram: @humansbeingwithlaelstoneThreads: @humansbeingwithlaelstoneFacebook: @humansbeingwithlaelstoneYouTube: @humansbeingwithlaelstoneHumans, being. is produced on the lands of the Bunurong and Wadawurrung people. We pay respect to their unique and diverse cultures and to elders past, present and future.—Lael's eight-week Parenting Immersion starts October 19th, working through themes like trust, boundaries, anger and repair to help you understand your own patterns and respond instead of react. Join the waitlist or sign up now.