What is a Good Life?

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  What is a Good Life? #184 - Resting in the Core of My Identity with Dr. Miriam Meckel 21.07.2026 47dk

  What does it actually mean to be human in an age racing toward AGI? In this episode of What is a Good Life?, Mark sits down with Dr. Miriam Meckel - award-winning journalist, professor of communication management at the University of St. Gallen, and founder of ada learning - to explore the question that has shaped her life's work: what is irreducibly human, and what are we at risk of losing? Miriam, the first female editor-in-chief of WirtschaftsWoche and former State Secretary for Media and International Affairs in North Rhine-Westphalia, opens up about a burnout that became a life-altering depression, the vulnerability of turning her private writing into her bestselling book Letter to My Life, and why she believes embodied experience — not intelligence — is what truly separates us from machines. It is a conversation about identity, friction, kindness, and what it takes to live a quiet, honest life.For more of Dr. Miriam Meckel's work:ada learning: https://www.join-ada.com/enLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meckel/For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@whatisagoodlife3875⁩
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  What is a Good Life? #183 - When Fear Becomes My Partner with Ralf Wetzel 14.07.2026 1sa 1dk

  In this episode of What is a Good Life, host Mark McCartney sits down with Ralf Wetzel - a leadership scholar who has taught at leading European business schools, and a clown and mask performer whose solo show Absolutely Reliable! has played the Edinburgh Fringe. This episode is built around one question: what does it mean to have a good relationship with fear? Ralf grew up under surveillance in communist East Germany, in a family where fear was something you lived with, not something you spoke about. He spent years trying to work through it - through therapy, yoga, and psychedelics, and eventually through improv and clown theatre. Along the way, we get into a teaching moment that tested everything he'd learned, and why a plastic clown nose turned out to teach him more about truth than theory ever did.This episode is for anyone who wants to reconsider their relationship with fear.For more from Ralf Wetzel:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ralf-wetzel-3a742011/For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@whatisagoodlife3875⁩
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  What is a Good Life? #182 - Cities That Make Us Happier with Lior Steinberg 07.07.2026 55dk

  In this episode of What is a Good Life, host Mark McCartney sits down with Lior Steinberg, a Rotterdam-based urban planner and co-founder of Humankind, a multidisciplinary team working toward urban happiness for all. Lior is also the author of the children's book The Car That Wanted to Be a Bike. Together they unpack why so many cities remain trapped in car-centric design decades after urbanist Jane Jacobs first warned against it.They talk about the "sidewalk ballet," how children's toys teach us to want cars, the surprising parallel between car culture and cigarette smoking, Barcelona's superblocks, and why trees are the best climate technology we already have. This is a thought-provoking conversation on how often change feels impossible until it is here.For more of Lior Steinberg's work:Humankind: https://www.humankind.city/Personal Website: https://steinberg.nu/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liorsteinberg/For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@whatisagoodlife3875⁩
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  What is a Good Life? #181 - Finding Peace Within Myself with Kadam Adam Starr 30.06.2026 1sa 9dk

  What does it mean to live a truly meaningful life and why do so many of us feel an emptiness even at the height of our success?In this episode, Mark sits down with Kadam Adam Starr, who has been an international teacher of meditation and Buddhism for over 20 years and is the principal teacher at Tara Kadampa Meditation Centre in Dublin. Adam walked away from a corporate media career in 2005 to pursue a different kind of question. What began as a planned year or two away became a complete reorientation of his life.Together they explore the emptiness that often arrives in our late twenties and early thirties, the difference between fleeting pleasure and genuine peace of mind, and why Adam came to realise that the problem was never his career - it was how badly out of balance he'd become. They talk about the shift from an ego-driven life to one grounded in compassion, what a three-month silent retreat revealed about our shared humanity, and how living from a peaceful mind and a good heart can make life feel radically more simple.This is a conversation about self-knowledge, the attention economy, meeting difficult people with friendship rather than judgment, and the realisation that a good life may come down to how we choose to show up each day.For more of Kadam Adam Starr's work:Tara Kadampa Meditation Centre: https://meditateinireland.com/IG: https://www.instagram.com/tara_kadampa_meditation_centre/For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@whatisagoodlife3875⁩
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  What is a Good Life? #180 - The Art of a Meaningful Life with Karen L. Jacob, PhD 23.06.2026 59dk

  Dr. Karen L. Jacob is a clinical psychologist, Program Director of the Gunderson Residence at McLean Hospital, and Assistant Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School. She specialises in the assessment and treatment of personality disorders, with particular expertise in borderline personality disorder. In this conversation Karen talks about growing up with a love of art, spending four years after college searching for work that actually meant something, the influence of a father who treated the underserved his entire career, and what drew her unexpectedly to specialising in personality disorders. We also discuss a New Year's resolution with her husband that changed how she parents and how she works.It's a conversation about what it looks like to build a meaningful life with joy, and staying open to a path that keeps surprising you.For more of Dr. Karen L. Jacob's work:Profile: https://www.mcleanhospital.org/profile/karen-jacobFor more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@whatisagoodlife3875⁩
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  What is a Good Life? #179 - Trust, Water & Rewilding with Daniel Allen-Hörnfeldt 16.06.2026 59dk

  In this episode, Dan talks with Mark about trading 80-90 hour work weeks and a self-medicating lifestyle in London for the forests and lakes of northern Sweden. He shares how his father's death became a turning point, how cold water swimming became a doorway back into his body, and how a small group of friends turned a Sunday morning dip into a movement. The conversation explores trust, surrender, community, and what it means to dissolve the "thick border" between yourself and the world.Dan Allen-Hörnfeldt is Chairman of Umeå Kallbad, a community swimming and sauna association recently named one of Sweden's best places to visit in 2026, and Head of Nature for People at Rewilding Sweden. A former GB triathlete, he spent fifteen years in restaurants and pubs, winning two Michelin Bib Gourmands and twice being named London's Best Pub, before building a nationally recognised restaurant in northern Sweden with his wife. He has also competed at an elite level in open-water and ice swimming, including a podium finish at the Ice Swimming World Cup.Learn more about Dan Allen-Hörnfeldt's work:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danallenhornfeldt/Umeå: https://umeakallbad.se/For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@whatisagoodlife3875⁩ 
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  What is a Good Life? #178 - The Courage To Be Heard with Lucinda Millward 09.06.2026 52dk

  Lucinda Millward is the founder of The Baskerville Project and a practitioner in embodied relational practice - bringing creativity, the body, and the nervous system into collective inquiry. She works across executive education, the arts, and public contexts, holds degrees from the University of Oxford, the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and RADA and King’s College London, and has served for seven years as Acting Course Director at the Fontainebleau School of Acting, alongside several years teaching at Guildhall.In this conversation, Lucinda speaks about what it costs to speak true - and why so many of us have learned not to. We explore the childhood roots of devoicing, the paradox of using other people's words to say what we cannot otherwise say, what it means to really look someone in the eye, and why she believes that in one's wound lies one's gift.A beautiful conversation about courage, presence, and what it means to let yourself be witnessed.Learn more about Lucinda's work at The Baskerville Project: https://www.thebaskervilleproject.com/For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@whatisagoodlife3875⁩  
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  What is a Good Life? #177 - Complicated Locks, Simple Keys with Sam Smith 02.06.2026 56dk

  This week Mark McCartney sits down with Sam Smith. Sam sees life as a big old experiment. He used to play professional rugby, before starting a few businesses. Now he spends his time speaking to people, writing and loving his family. Last year he wrote his first book, The Door Was Never Locked. His latest project with his friend Garth, Conscious Soup launches soon, it's a Living Experiment. They aren't sure what that means yet.In this conversation, Sam opens up about the moment he retired from rugby at 26 and collapsed on a bathroom floor crying, escaping this transition with work and alcohol, and how a simple repeated gesture from a coach changed the entire direction of his life.We explore identity, the stories we carry without questioning, what it really means to lead as a human, and why a good life for him is wanting all of it - even the hard parts. If you are navigating any big life transitions right now, this conversation may be particularly helpful.For more from Sam Smith: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conscious-soup-studio/You can grab a copy of his book: https://amzn.eu/d/07QwCqFQAnd he'd love to hear from you: sam@thisisthechangingroom.comCheck out Sam’s next project with Conscious Soup here: www.conscioussoup.comFor more from Mark McCartney: Newsletter: https://www.whatisagoodlife.com/ Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife3875
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  What is a Good Life? #176 - What Is It About Dogs? with Doug Skoke 26.05.2026 1sa 4dk

  What is it about dogs?It's the question Doug Skoke has been sitting with and it turns out, trying to understand what makes his golden doodle Harley tick has become one of his most impactful explorations of how to actually live well.Doug is the Founder & CEO of LFG NOW!, a boutique executive search firm, and a Gallup-certified CliftonStrengths Coach - but what defines him more than any title is a lifelong obsession with people, energy, and what it means to show up fully in your own life. A daily meditator and firm believer in the Platinum Rule - treat others as they prefer to be treated - Doug has spent over a decade exploring practical and spiritual approaches to growth, resilience, and presence.What begins as a question about why dogs are so emotionally regulating opens into one covering grief, crisis, dialectical behavioural therapy, the self-love pendulum, radical acceptance, and what it actually means to lift others up.Whether you're drawn to mindfulness, emotional intelligence, personal growth, or just an honest human conversation - this episode is for you.For more from Doug Skoke:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougskoke/For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@whatisagoodlife3875⁩  00:00  Five Years In The Making01:15  What Is It About Dogs?03:30  The Thought Bubble Cartoon06:00  What Dogs Know About Presence09:09  When His Brother Died11:14  Alma's Unwavering Welcome13:20  Angels In Disguise18:50  Unconditional, Every Single Moment24:20  The Dog He Almost Gave Away30:53  Learning To Regulate40:15  The Self-Love Pendulum1:01:08  What Is A Good Life for Doug?
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  What is a Good Life? #175 - Closing the Gap Between Values & Life with Jennifer Garvey Berger 19.05.2026 58dk

  In this episode of What is a Good Life?, Mark McCartney sits down with Jennifer Garvey Berger - author, global leadership coach, and co-founder and CEO of Cultivating Leadership - to explore one of the most honest questions a person can ask: am I actually living in alignment with what I say matters most?Jennifer has spent decades helping leaders untangle big questions and find more courageous, compassionate ways to lead. All four of her books are Stanford University Press top sellers of the last decade. But here, she turns that same rigorous curiosity on herself.She shares the moment she realised her deepest values - generosity and curiosity - have their own shadows. She unpacks the concept of values as polarities, why rigid adherence to a single value leaves the whole system weak, and how she learned to hold temporary certainty without pretending to have all the answers.If you're interested in personal growth, leadership, values, conscious living, philosophy of life, intentional community, or a good life, this episode is for you.For more from Jennifer Garvey Berger:Company Website: www.cultivatingleadership.comBooks: Unleash Your Complexity Genius: https://www.sup.org/books/business/unleash-your-complexity-geniusChanging on the Job: https://www.sup.org/books/business/changing-job-second-editionLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-garvey-berger-7b4a264/ For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@whatisagoodlife3875⁩  00:02  A Question Worth Following01:31  Closing the Values Gap04:01  When Values Cast Shadows08:53  Generosity and Curiosity's Dark Side13:02  Shame and the Human Condition16:29  Learning to Take Stands18:49  Standing for Love23:19  Certainty at Sea26:21  Time, Physics and Reality33:39  Rising to Love38:05  The Intentional Community50:28  What Is A Good Life for Jennifer?
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  What is a Good Life? #174 - Being In The Pulse Of Life with Laura Beckingham 12.05.2026 1sa 6dk

  In this episode of What is a Good Life?, Mark McCartney sits down with Laura Beckingham - a modern mystic for turbulent times. It's a conversation that remains as grounded in the bread and butter of life as it ascends into the spiritual.We move from asking what existence is all about through radical inclusion, Family Constellations, ancestral wisdom, the right size in relationships, grief and death, the energy of birth - and why a good life for Laura is about staying in contact with the pulse of life.It will leave you with plenty to sit with.Laura works one-to-one with senior execs who are dismantling the system from the inside, and with people practitioners and creatives who are doing something of the same in their own way. You can also join her in community online, for ritual and reflective practice in The Sanctum, and at The Loom.For more from Laura Beckingham:Website: https://spacewith-in.com/ The Sanctum: https://spacewith-in.com/category/the-sanctum/The Loom: https://spacewith-in.com/the-loom-2026/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-beckingham-109bb625/For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@whatisagoodlife3875⁩  00:00  What Is All of This?02:15  Born Curious07:10  Knowing and Not Knowing10:25  Old Wisdom, New Ways14:50  Radical Inclusion18:30  Do No Harm20:45  The Right Size25:10  Life as Attunement28:30  Opening and Closing34:00  In Motion and Still40:40  The Witch and the Field55:35  Grief, death, birth1:01:00 What Is a Good Life?
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  What is a Good Life? #173 - The Place Of Multiple Belongings with Dave Snowden 05.05.2026 52dk

  In this episode of What is a Good Life?, Mark McCartney sits down with Dave Snowden - Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of The Cynefin Co., creator of the Cynefin Framework, and one of the most original thinkers working at the intersection of complexity science, organisational design, and human decision-making.The conversation moves through substrate theory, complexity science, psychological safety, the dangers of homogenisation, coherent heterogeneity, Celtic identity, indigenous rights, conflict resolution in Northern Ireland, and what a good life really comes down to.It is a beautiful mixture of thought provoking ideas and powerful lived experiences. For more from Dave Snowden:Website: https://thecynefin.co/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-snowden-2a93b/For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@whatisagoodlife3875⁩  00:00  Substrate and What Emerges02:37  Fed Up With Management Fads05:54  When Ideas Come Together07:25  Celtic Presence and Attention10:20  The Reformation's Long Shadow13:28  The Problem With Safety16:38  Phase Shifts and Flipping21:17  Changing the Granularity24:48  Witnessing Violence29:12  Identity as Flow37:43  Metaphor as Intelligence51:57  What Is a Good Life?
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  What is a Good Life? #172 - What If It Were Easy? with Dr Myriam Hadnes 28.04.2026 53dk

  What if it were easy? What would you do if you weren't afraid?This week I am joined by Dr Myriam Hadnes who shares with us two questions that have really influenced her life. We explore how passion can grow through doing rather than preceding it, why conflict in relationships can be a form of intimacy rather than a threat to it, and what it really means to act in integrity even when the cost is potentially high. It is a beautiful conversation about communication, courage, and what it means to feel truly accepted.Dr Myriam Hadnes is a behavioural economist, facilitator, and host of the Unprofessionalism podcast, exploring what gets lost when professionalism becomes performance. Her agency workshops.work partners with global organisations to build the conditions where people think together, speak up, and do honest work.For more from Dr Myriam Hadnes:Website: workshops.work LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/myriam-hadnes/For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife00:00 Two Life-Changing Questions04:09 What If It Were Easy?07:08 When Easy Gets Scary09:31 Finding Meaning in Work13:24 Teaching What You Live19:00 Conflict Doesn't Mean Unlove23:01 Sisyphus and the Paradox25:30 The Radical Honesty Moment30:35 Lessons From A Client Conflict 38:31 Walking Away With Integrity44:55 Easy Love, Redefined52:30 What Makes a Good Life
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  What is a Good Life? #171 - What Must My Life Be About with Robert J. Anderson 21.04.2026 1sa 14dk

  Robert J. Anderson joins the show for a wide-ranging conversation about purpose, intuition, shadow work, and the question that has guided his life. He talks beautifully about doubt and fear alongside grace and synchronicity, and what it takes to keep saying yes when you can't see where it's going.Robert J. Anderson has been a pace setter in the field of Leadership Development for over 30 years. He is the Founder and Chief Knowledge Officer of Leadership Circle, and the co-author of Scaling Leadership and Mastering Leadership. Bob created the Leadership Circle Profile, a 360° assessment used by organisations worldwide to measure the effectiveness of their leaders (individually and collectively), chart a pathway for their development, and assess their progress as they develop. In 2005, the Stayer Center for Executive Education at the University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business awarded Bob the Partner in Innovation Award. The MEECO Leadership Institute awarded him the International Thought Leader of Distinction in 2018.If you sense you are still not fully committing to the path you are already on, this will offer plenty of inspiration.For more of Robert J. Anderson's work:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-j-anderson/Company Website: https://leadershipcircle.com/For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlifeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcmccartney00:00  The Guiding Question03:30  Becoming Who I Am07:00  Writing the Musts11:30  Learning to Trust Intuition16:00  Around the World Experiment22:00  The Brennan School Years28:00  Leadership Circle is Born34:00  What Is Wanted Now40:00  Unity as Foundation47:00  The Soldier and the White Light54:00  The Divine Elephant1:03:00  Joy at the Bottom1:10:00  What is a good life for Robert?Podcast Keywords: Meaning of Life Interviews | meaning of life conversations | exploring life | big life questions | meaning of life discussions | creating a meaningful life​
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  What is a Good Life? #170 - Recovering Right Relationship with Ally Kingston 14.04.2026 55dk

  What does a truly good life look like - and how do we find our way back to it?In this episode of What is a Good Life?, Mark McCartney speaks with Ally Kingston about recovering the capacity for "right relationship": with ourselves, with nature, with community, and with something greater.Ally is a creative strategist and facilitator, and strategy lead at non-profit Purpose Disruptors and Agency for Nature. She designs interventions to galvanise public imagination and redirect our creative skills to work in harmony with the natural world. Also passionate about holding space for grief and loss in our changing times, she has also trained as a death doula and rites of passage holder. Once an advertising and sustainability leader, and one of Forbes’ 43 People Changing Advertising for the Climate, she writes & lectures on storytelling, imagination and new conceptions of the good life.    They explore:- What "right relationship" actually means — and why we've lost it- Sobriety as a gateway to a fuller life- The Artist's Way and morning pages as a daily return to self- What four days alone in a forest teaches you about civilisation- The imagination crisis - why our vision of the future is shrinking- Death, grief, and why learning to let things end well matters now more than everIf you're searching for meaning beyond consumption, or asking what it means to live well in uncertain times, this conversation is for you.🎙️ What is a Good Life? - conversations that go to the heart of what matters.Subscribe for new episodes every Tuesday.Leave a review if this episode resonated with you.For more from Ally's work:Purpose Disruptors: https://www.purposedisruptors.org/ally-kingstonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ally-kingston-75922025/For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlifeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcmccartney00:00  How to be in right relationship?03:45  Two Tomatoes and an Epiphany08:25  The Word Recovery09:45  Sobriety and the Paradigm Shift17:02  Threads Pulling Together21:24  Morning Pages and the Artist's Way25:29  Four Days in the Forest33:24  How Do I Help Things Die?38:12  Accompanying Her Grandmother48:30  The Shrinking Imagination53:04  What is a Good Life?Tags: good life, meaning, right relationship, sobriety, nature connection, death doula, climate, imagination, morning pages, the artist's way, wilderness, grief, belonging, mindfulness, purposePodcast Keywords: Meaning of Life Interviews | meaning of life conversations | exploring life | big life questions | meaning of life discussions | creating a meaningful life​
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  What is a Good Life? #169 - Wonder, Wildness And Song with Sam Lee 07.04.2026 1sa

  How do you hold on to that feeling of childlike enchantment that you remember as a kid?In this captivating conversation, Mark sits down with Sam Lee, singer, composer, and author. We explore the nature of wonder, the role of ritual, and the significance of rite of passages and thresholds. He talks about his apprenticeship to Scottish traveller and balladeer Stanley Robertson and how that completely dismantled what he thought folk music was. We talk about songs as medicine and what it means to be their custodian, as well as being being dangerously surrounded by a dozen shepherd's dogs in the Carpathian mountains.Sam Lee is a Mercury prize-nominated singer, composer, arranger, folksong interpreter, connecting his passion for nature and song into timeless unique ways. Collector of songs from across the British Isles & Ireland he’s also the creator of many live nature immersions including the annual sell-out Singing With Nightingales. Penguin recently published his debut novel 'The Nightingale, Notes on a songbird' telling the epic tale of this highly endangered bird. And his latest album is the critically acclaimed, Guardian 5 star and Mojo Album of the Month ‘songdreaming’. Sam is also an Ambassador for The Global Rewilding Alliance.This conversation and Sam's stories are for anyone seeking more aliveness in this life. For more from Sam Lee's work:Website: https://samleesong.co.uk/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samleesong/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/samleesongFor more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlifeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcmccartney00:00  Does Wonder Ever Cease?02:29  A Life of Proximity05:00  The Gift of the Puffball09:04  A Rite of Passage17:30  On Ritual and Threshold18:03  Bar Mitzvah to Bison Tracking26:58  Surrounded by Shepherd's Dogs35:10  Apprenticed to Stanley Robertson48:30  Songs as Medicine53:40  Walking Into Darkness59:40  What is a Good Life?Keywords: Meaning of Life Interviews | meaning of life conversations | exploring life | big life questions | meaning of life discussions | creating a meaningful life​
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  What is a Good Life? #168 - What It Means to Be Fully Alive with Joel Monk 31.03.2026 57dk

  What does it mean to be fully alive? Mark sits down with Joel Monk to explore the journey from spiritual bypassing to embodiment. They talk about dark nights of the soul, the "yum" of visceral wellbeing, trauma-informed healing, the role of grace and prayer, and what it actually means to feel safe, okay, and enough. An episode for anyone on a path of dropping deeper into their own humanity and body.Joel Monk is the founder of Coaches Rising, one of the world’s leading platforms for transformational coaching, with a global community of more than 65,000 coaches. He is the host of the Coaches Rising Podcast and is known for his work in transformational coaching, embodiment, and human development. He has coached hundreds of entrepreneurs, CEOs, and senior executives — even a Zen master — helping high-level leaders unlock deeper presence, wiser action, and profound personal transformation.For more from Joel Monk's work:Company website: www.coachesrising.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-monk-33952613/Coaches Rising Podcast: https://www.coachesrising.com/podcast/For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlifeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcmccartney00:00  Awakening Into Full Humanity02:00  Magic Mushrooms on the Moors07:15  Coming Into the Body10:20  The Yum13:47  Clinging to Bliss17:00  Safety, Okayness, and Intimacy20:45  Intoxified by Life27:42  Moving Beyond Renunciation31:07  The Gift of Grace38:52  Inquiring Into God46:17  Fully Alive in Dark Times51:37  What Is a Good LifeKeywords: Meaning of Life Interviews | meaning of life conversations | exploring life | big life questions | meaning of life discussions | creating a meaningful life​
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  What is a Good Life? #167 - Gifts, Rituals, & The Path To Belonging with Bruce Anderson 24.03.2026 57dk

  What makes a life truly good? In this rich and wide-ranging conversation, Mark speaks with Bruce Anderson, Executive Director of the Core Gift Institute, about the three kinds of glue that hold relationships, communities, and the world together: gifts, welcoming, and ritual. Bruce shares why he believes our primary gifts are not earned but given to us through spirit and why they always emerge from our deepest wounds. They explore belonging, the question of how everything began, the wildness of love, and why a home in a wild place might just be the perfect metaphor for a life well lived. Currently living on an island by Seattle, USA, Bruce has a storied life of living in remote Alaska, commercial fishing, log-cabin building, and being a schoolteacher and mayor. He is known for bringing intriguing ideas from other cultures and times, personal stories, and practical ideas into the international work he does with others.Whether you're feeling lost, searching for direction, or simply curious about what a meaningful life looks like, this conversation will leave you with a lot to sit with.For more of Bruce's work:Core Gift Institue: https://www.coregift.org/home LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bruce-anderson-742a3722/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011545838837 For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlifeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcmccartney00:00 – Three Kinds Of Glue04:01 – Why Spirit Grounds Everything10:50 – The Search For Faith15:13 – How Did All This Begin?18:26 – Where Beauty Comes From22:05 – Home In The Wild28:00 – Gifts & The Gift Exchange33:25 – Seeing Gifts In Others38:00 – Competence Isn't Your Gift42:05 – Parker Palmer & Hospitality47:14 – The Role Of Ritual56:46 – What Is A Good Life?Keywords: Meaning of Life Interviews | meaning of life conversations | exploring life | big life questions | meaning of life discussions | creating a meaningful life​
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  What is a Good Life? #166 - Living Your Own Version Of Success with Kaylyn Lehmann 17.03.2026 57dk

  What does it mean to trust yourself when the path isn't clear?Kaylyn Lehmann is Co-founder and Executive Coach at Simplified Coach, a former VP of HR, and a specialist in neuroscience leadership and character strengths. Over the past decade she has coached hundreds of C-level and high-potential executives across high tech, biotech and highly funded start-ups. Drawing on a formative experience of loss in her late twenties, Kaylyn has long carried a question from Tuesdays with Morrie: Is today the day? — not as something to fear, but as a guide. From walking away from a VP salary that no longer felt right, to building a business during a bed rest pregnancy in the middle of the 2008 recession, to a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote from her mother that reframed how she saw herself, this is a conversation that charts a path to greater autonomy and coherence. A life which realises the significance of awe and play along the way.If you are in the middle of uncertainty that you are struggling to navigate, this will offer so much to consider and support.🔔 Subscribe for weekly conversations on what it means to live a good life.For more of Kaylyn's work:Website: https://www.simplifiedcoach.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simplifiedcoach/For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlifeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcmccartney00:00  The Bird Question02:03  Death as a Life Guide05:49  Autonomy & Self-Direction08:26  Living Your Values12:15  Building Self-Trust18:38  Permission to Redefine Success22:23  Is Today the Day?28:30  The Gift of Family Time34:27  Fear & Starting the Business39:53  Resilience & the Long Game46:13  Play as a Life Essential53:54  What is a Good Life?Keywords: Meaning of Life Interviews | meaning of life conversations | exploring life | big life questions | meaning of life discussions | creating a meaningful life​
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  What is a Good Life? #165 - Money Is Never Just Money with Bogumil Baranowski 10.03.2026 1sa 2dk

  Most conversations about money stay on the surface. This one doesn't.Mark McCartney sits down with Bogumil Baranowski — investment advisor, author of Crisis Investing and Money Life Family, host of Talking Billions podcast, and profound thinker on the intersection of wealth and human experience.In this episode, they go deep on why money is one of the most emotionally charged forces in human life, what inheritance really carries alongside the numbers, why asking the right questions matters more than having the right answers, and how being present with another person is paramount in any field of work.Whether you're interested in wealth, relationships, meaningful work, or simply living with more intention — this conversation is for you.🔔 Subscribe for weekly conversations on what it means to live a good life.For more of Bogumil's work:Talking Billions Podcast: https://www.talkingbillions.co/Blue Infinitas: https://www.blueinfinitascapital.com/Website: https://www.bogumilbaranowski.com/For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlifeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcmccartney00:00 – How can I help?03:14 – When money stops being the point06:28 – Holding someone's hand11:13 – What clients really talk about14:20 – Money as intimate conversation18:21 – Inheritance and unasked questions22:18 – Finding the story behind the number27:47 – When words don't tell the truth32:18 – Rediscovering presence and wonder40:52 – Why idle minds light up45:00 – The shift away from scarcity56:02 – What is a good life for BogumilKeywords: Meaning of Life Interviews | meaning of life conversations | exploring life | big life questions | meaning of life discussions | creating a meaningful life​