Two weeks ago, I escaped the UK’s pestilential winter and flew to Costa Rica. I am not entirely proud of this decision – I feel I somehow dodged the draft. On the other hand, it’s really lovely here and I’m supporting the economy, which has been badly hit by the tourism slump.

At one of the first places I stayed in, the proprietor surprised me by urging me to take off my...

When we say, “The nation needs to heal,” what does that actually look like on a personal level? In today’s conversation with yoga teacher Elena Brower, we discuss how to re-grow the roots of civil conversation and connect on a level deeper than our deep-seated political identities. And she shares how she offers understanding and love while not forgoing accountability...

What will you remember of this time? What would you like to forget? 

Etched in my mind are the masked random meetings, the awkward, hugless greetings, the fleeting freedom we thought we felt when the pandemic subsided, only to be shocked by another surge. Back into hibernation we go; a fresh, strange displacement. 

I’ll also never forget the days of late May and early June when a...

I grew up without much religion. I briefly attended the Unitarian Church as a result of a negotiation between my parents to placate their respective families. My mother was raised Methodist from strong Midwestern stock. My father is Jewish, and is bald, fancies rye bread and lives in Southern Florida if you need further proof.

I remember the Unitarian church as a feelgood operation, a bit like...

In 1987, I ran for high school president. It was a hotly contested race with many worthy candidates. I ran on a populist, if flimsy, platform of pizza Fridays and Van Halen on the snack bar jukebox. My campaign relied heavily on superlative slogans: Krasno Knows, JPK All the Way, It’s About Jeffin’ Time. And we made appeals to foreign-language speakers with Jeff Pour Le Chef and...

Rep. Tim Ryan (D) is the congressman from Ohio’s 13th district and former presidential candidate. He is a daily meditator and the author of A Mindful Nation: How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance, and Recapture the American Spirit. Ryan is also a proponent of regenerative agriculture as a technique to sequester carbon and revitalize American agriculture.

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Schuyler and I have been hitched at the hip for 32 years of otherworldly bliss, over three decades of polkadots and moonbeams. Do you want to know the secret? Sure, you do. Don’t tell anyone but…

We have sex almost every day! 

Almost on Monday. Almost on Tuesday… 

[Insert ba-dum-dum-ching]

This flaccid dad joke was Wayne Dyer’s opening line for years. He...

Lama Rod Owens is a Buddhist minister, Black activist, and author of Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger. As he says in this podcast, "Anger is the bodyguard for hurt." Anger wakes us up to what is happening inside ourselves, but it also requires stepping back into a space of reflection before fiercely stepping forward to address the source of our pain.

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A native of New Milford, Pennsylvania, author Ash Ambirge often serves as a translator, of sorts, between the languages of “rural America” and “coastal elite America.” In this conversation, Jeff and Ash discuss the hidden human needs behind voters’ embrace of Trump, and how mutual understanding can offer a path to a more productive conversation.

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