Deep Dive with Courtney Smith on the Stories We Tell Ourselves

Kelly sits down with Enneagram coach Courtney Smith, co-author (with Elise Loehnen) of the workbook Choosing Wholeness Over Goodness, to explore the cultural scripts women inherit about how we're supposed to be—and what happens when we start questioning them. They talk about why taking responsibility feels both terrifying and liberating, the difference between being stuck and choosing agency, and how fear keeps us playing roles that don't serve us. It's about the courage it takes to face what you've been avoiding, the surprising freedom that comes from talking back to yourself, and why wholeness might be worth risking everything you thought kept you safe. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Karen Frost held hands with a stranger named Frank at a U2 concert in Chicago—a man she sensed didn't have much time left. They didn't exchange contact information, but she knew what they shared was a soul connection forged through music. Years later, when she faced a cancer diagnosis and began guided imagery to prepare for radiation, something unexpected happened. It's a story about the fleeting connections that never really leave, the mysterious ways people return to us when we need them most, and how someone you barely knew can become exactly what saves you. If you have a story to share, thoughts or feedback, please reach out any time: [email protected] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What if the most powerful response to tragedy isn't professional intervention, but something much simpler and closer to home? Kelly weaves together a George Eliot quote about unhistoric acts, a newsletter from psychiatrist Dr. Samantha Boardman, and decades of research on community resilience to explore a surprising truth: after crisis, your friends and family aren't just holding you until you can get to a therapist—they are the therapy. It's about how natural support systems activate faster and reach more people than formal interventions, why being noticed matters more than we realize, and the quiet power of ordinary people showing up in extraordinary ways. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Quick afternoon nap? Gummies before bed? Hitting snooze? Here’s a thorough look at how to get our sleep right with one of the world’s most informed sleep experts: Dr. Matthew Walker. Why? Sleep is our super power. Put less positively, poor sleep maps terribly closely to poor mental health. Joining me for the conversation are previous guests and friends of the show cognitive scientist and podcaster Maya Shankar, and comedian/producer W Kamau Bell. (Previously aired) Many thanks to COOP for making the best pillows and sheets to help us get a really solid night’s sleep and for sponsoring this episode. You can watch this conversation anytime at www.pbs.org/kelly or stream on the PBS app. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sometimes kids just know things. Molly Merrihew's almost-three-year-old daughter Cecelia asks out of nowhere, "Why did Caitlin die in February?" while standing on a kitchen chair, her aunt's senior photo mixed in with the daily clutter of mail and coffee mugs. Molly realizes her daughter has picked up on the rhythm of grief, the way February carries both celebration and loss—Cecilia's birthday falls just a week after the anniversary of her aunt's death. It's about how children watch us more closely than we think, how they call us back when we drift away, and how the people we've lost keep showing up in our lives, present and gone at the same time. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kelly and Tammy explore Pixar's WALL-E, a film that dares to say almost nothing for the first forty minutes—and somehow says everything about curiosity, connection, and what it means to be alive. They talk about how the filmmakers watched silent films for months to learn how emotions work without dialogue, why a frictionless life is enfeebling, and what a lonely robot can teach us about slowing down and looking closer. It's about the magic of noticing small things and why the films WALL-E and Her both arrive at the same moral: meaningful connection is what saves us. This Go To is supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. To learn more, please visit: templeton.org. Check out our previous episode with Pixar's Pete Docter: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deep-dive-with-pixars-pete-docter-on-making/id1532951390?i=1000698705898 To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What if the antidote to our frenzied, overscheduled lives isn't found in distant places or grand revelations, but in the radical act of paying attention? Writer Pico Iyer—who famously traded a corner office in Manhattan for a single room in Japan with no bed, no phone, and no distractions —sits down with Kelly to explore the art of staying curious in an age of constant noise. They wander through ideas about beginner's mind, the tyranny of busyness, and why sometimes the most luxurious thing we can do is nothing at all. Along the way, they discover that wonder is something we awaken by noticing what's already here, hidden in plain sight, just waiting for us to look up from our phones and see. This episode and our entire Super Traits series was made possible by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. To learn more, please visit: templeton.org. Recorded at The Aspen Ideas Festival. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kelly reads a birthday letter from her lifelong friend Mary Hope McQuiston to her father Bob, who is turning 90. Instead of throwing a surprise party, Mary Hope decided to honor her dad by collecting the lessons he's taught her—one for each decade he's lived. What unfolds is a portrait of a life well-lived, told through stories about elaborate pranks, deep friendships, showing up when it matters, and never missing an opportunity for dessert or— pyrotechnics. It's about the quiet ways we shape the people we love, and how the best parts of who we become are often learned by watching someone live with generosity, courage, and joy. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What happens when a filmmaker refuses to judge his characters and just keeps asking "and then what would happen?" Kelly and Tammy dive into Spike Jonze's Her, a film made in 2013 that somehow predicted our current moment of AI engagement with unsettling precision. They wander through questions about embodiment and consciousness, the dangerous beauty of unchecked curiosity, and why conviction kills creativity before it can bloom. This Go To episode is supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. To learn more, please visit: https://www.templeton.org/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kelly sits down with visionary neuroscientist Gül Dölen—who FedExed seven octopuses to her lab and dosed them with MDMA to understand how brains learn—and to explore what happens when you let wonder lead the way. Gül explains that our brains have windows when they're wide open to learning, that those windows known as "critical periods" close—and more importantly, how we might crack them back open. She and Kelly discuss why pure curiosity, the kind with no practical application in sight, has always been the source of our most important discoveries, and why deprivation and mystical joy might be two paths to the same place. Gül makes the case that there's magic everywhere if you're willing to see the physical world as miraculous, and that lasting change comes not from a pill but from what you learn while your mind is open. Note: This episode discusses neuroscience research on psychedelics, including MDMA. All references are to controlled scientific studies, not recreational use. This episode was made possible by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. To learn more, please visit ⁠www.templeton.org⁠. Recorded at the Aspen Ideas Festival. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices