The You Project

Dr. Vanessa Lapointe is a Parenting Expert, Author, Researcher and Child Psychologist. Or as I call her, Kid-Ologist. Raising, guiding, empowering, teaching and understanding children, is her thing. The science (art?) of raising happy, healthy, functional kids (how to be a great parent) is her passion, research and career. This conversation covered a vast amount of territory and as a non-parent, I found her thoughts, ideas, stories and insights, fascinating. We spoke about brain stuff, mind stuff, nurture vs. nature, genetic stuff, programming, the education system and her son the orchid and her other son, the dandelion (it will make sense when you listen). You'll love it.

This is one of my favourite chats this year. No, really. Dr. Denise Furness is one of those rare people who can comfortably combine her considerable intellect, knowledge, research background and academic credibility with outstanding social skills, relatability, story-telling and humour. She is an award-winning medical researcher, international speaker and author. She is a CSIRO trained Molecular Geneticist, who considers herself a Holistic Geneticist. She has been working in the field of nutritional genomics and personalised health for almost twenty years. In 2012 she founded 'Your Genes & Nutrition' and began working with integrative G.Ps and exploring functional medicine. She now works with a range of patients helping them identify underlying triggers and root causes of their health concerns. Using a combined approach of genetics, biochemical markers, nutrition and lifestyle medicine (functional medicine), she helps people take charge of their health and wellbeing. Enjoy. Facebook Group: Your Genes and Nutrition Community info@genenutrition.com.au

Simone Springer is funny for money. Her job is making people laugh. I love comedy but the idea of walking on stage for the sole purpose of making a room full of strangers laugh (strangers who give zero f**ks if I crash and burn), terrifies me. If I was braver, I would have given it a go. I'm not. And I didn't. But Simone is. And she did. This was an interesting chat about her comedy journey, from the grassroots (open mic nights) right up to TV. We also discuss her lengthy battle with crippling anxiety, panic attacks and PTSD and how she came out the other side. Enjoy.

Sometimes less is where the magic and the breakthroughs happen. Less pointless conversations. Less obsessing. Self-loathing. Over-thinking. Comparison. Wasting energy. Avoiding. Seeking approval. For me, it's been about recognising the patterns, habits, behaviours, attitudes, rituals and idiosyncrasies that don't serve me, empower me or benefit me. Things I needed to stop doing completely or do less of. This is a conversation about that. Enjoy.

This was meant to be a conversation about something else. I planned an episode called 'In Pursuit of Less', exploring the things that, over the years I needed to let go of, stop doing or do less of. Well, that didn't happen. Instead, this did. Our typical five-minute pre-show ramble became a fifty-minute deep dive down a psychological rabbit hole, exploring placebos, self-healing, Tiff's new happiness light, the therapeutic benefits of laughter and being childish (that's my excuse - it's therapeutic), getting offended, being weird and lots more. This is one of my favourite freestyle chats.

Okay, this was one of those surprise conversations and although I didn't have any specific expectations going in, I certainly didn't anticipate the deep-thinking, philosophical, emotionally evolved, insightful bloke who happens to be the only full-time professional male head coach of a netball team in the world. Dan Ryan coaches the Leeds Rhinos Netball Team in the UK Netball Superleague (and until last week, the Irish National Team). His understanding of leadership, mentoring, human development, teamwork, strategy, problem solving, extracting potential and thriving under pressure is exceptional. I've worked with plenty of elite coaches and Dan is brilliant. Enjoy.

Heidi Anderson is a natural performer and I loved her energy in this ep. of TYP. Along the way, we spoke about being on Big Brother, working in commercial radio, traversing the globe like a wild-child, dealing with rejection, killing her liver with booze, battling anxiety, drowning out the voices (with more booze), creating a mental health plan and support team and of course, having a few laughs. Enjoy.

Apart from being an ex-Soldier, Policeman, MAFS Participant (is that the right term?), cafe owner and partner of TYP fave Bianca Chatfield, Mark Scrivens is just a good bloke, who's great to talk with. He turned up at TYP Central (the studio) with some weird flu-preventing concoction which tasted like paint stripper (I imagine) and should keep my Vitamin C levels through the roof till December. Thanks Bianca. This episode genuinely felt more like a café catch up with a Mate, than it did any kind of public interview. I really enjoyed it. @thisismarkscrivens

Lisa Alexander has been one of the most winning Coaches in professional sport in Australia over the last twenty years; coaching the Australian Diamonds Netball Team for ten of those years (102 tests, 83 wins). We've been friends since we worked together at the Melbourne Phoenix (in the national netball league) from 2002 to 2004, where she was Senior Coach. As always, we cover lots of territory in this episode, talking about coaching the best team in the world in front of 17,000 people, life after coaching in the national spotlight, stepping out of the mayhem, finding new purpose, direction and identity, the cross-over between high performance in sport and life and lots more. Enjoy. LinkedIn - Lisa Alexander

"I was an addict waiting to happen" - Mick Hall. Twelve and a half years-old, a cask of port, passed out on railway tracks behind his school (the one he rarely attended), abusing his teachers, hospitalised, stomach pumped; it was the best and worst day of his life. The worst, because it opened a door that became virtually impossible to shut and the best, because he discovered the 'cure' to his mental and emotional pain; the magic that took him (temporarily) out of suffering and into bliss. This is another fascinating chat about all-things addiction, prison, survival, recovery and hope with TYP favourite, Mick Hall. dayhab.com.au

"I was an addict waiting to happen" - Mick Hall. Twelve and a half years-old, a cask of port, passed out on railway tracks behind his school (the one he rarely attended), abusing his teachers, hospitalised, stomach pumped; it was the best and worst day of his life. The worst, because it opened a door that became virtually impossible to shut and the best, because he discovered the 'cure' to his mental and emotional pain; the magic that took him (temporarily) out of suffering and into bliss. This is another fascinating chat about all-things addiction, prison, survival, recovery and hope with TYP favourite, Mick Hall. dayhab.com.au

Sure, I could have said 'faecal matter' but why would I when this episode is probably the only chance I'll ever have to legitimately use 'poo' in a title; especially when I'm chatting with one of the world's foremost authorities in the area of all-things gut health. Dr. Mahmoud Ghannoum is a tenured Professor and Director of the Centre for Medical Mycology at Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals Medical Centre. He has published over 400 peer-reviewed articles in the field of biofilms, the microbiome, microbial pathogenesis and preclinical in vitro and in vivo evaluations of antimicrobials. He also published the first study describing the oral mycobiome of healthy individuals, and the interaction between bacteria and fungi in the microbiomes of Crohn's patients. His work has been cited over 26,000 times in the medical literature. Enjoy.

Let's be honest, sometimes our mind is a cerebral war zone. A cognitive catastrophe. A sh*t-fest of toxic thoughts, ideas, self-doubt, self-loathing, self-limiting stories and paranoia. As I've said before, we 'do life' in a physical, three-dimensional, external, see-touch-feel-hear world, but where we do most of our 'living' is in that non-physical, internal, unseen place that we call our mind (thoughts, stories, beliefs, ideas, dreams, values, goals, expectations, judgements, biases). This is a conversation about creating a healthier 'place to live'.

If you're interested in a conversational smorgasbord of science, spirituality, consciousness, identity, awareness, quantum physics and mysticism, then you're in for a treat. But you may need a coffee first. No, really (lol). Sometimes I find myself in a conversation that I'm too stupid to be in. This was one of those times. Nonetheless, I did my best to seem like I knew what was going on. Despite my ineptitude, Dr. Goswami is brilliant and fascinating and I was totally enthralled. There were moments when I struggled (a little) with his accent (you might not) but if you can hang in there, it's very worthwhile. Here's a smidge of his bio... *Theoretical Quantum Physicist, Dr. Amit Goswami is a revolutionary amongst a growing body of renegade scientists who, in recent years, has ventured into the domain of the spiritual in an attempt both to interpret the seemingly inexplicable findings of curious experiments and to validate intuitions about the existence of a spiritual dimension of life. A prolific writer, teacher, and visionary, Dr. Goswami has appeared in the movies What the Bleep do we know!?, Dalai Lama Renaissance, as well as the award winning documentary, The Quantum Activist. Amit is the author of numerous books, most notably: The Self-Aware Universe, Physics of the Soul, The Quantum Doctor, God is Not Dead, Quantum Creativity, and The Everything Answer Book. He is also a retired professor of physics from the University of Oregon, where he served on the faculty for almost thirty years.

A few weeks ago, I sat down with Tommy and Josh on the 1000th episode of The Daily Talk Show. To celebrate, they decided to do a live, non-stop 1,000-minute episode with a cast of thousands (okay, tens) from way-too-early-in-the-morning to stupid-o'clock. Our chat started off over-lapping with the previous guest, Matt D'Avella (Netflix film maker who made 'Minimalism'), and the boys and I covered everything from minimalism (there's a shock), anxiety, confidence, food issues, the idea of needing to 'hit rock bottom' (to change), stoicism and indecision... and we even chatted about lessons learned through my less than impressive bouncing career (definitely wasn't a career). Enjoy. thedailytalkshow.com