by Joel Zaslofsky | Apr 8, 2026
What if the handshake is a dominance ritual and the hug is the antidote? Joel breaks down the energetics, mechanics, and cultural context of giving truly great hugs in 15 surprisingly nuanced tips. From the five-second rule to the one last squeeze, this episode might just change how you wrap your arms around the world.
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by Joel Zaslofsky | Apr 6, 2026
What if there are no objective truths, no real rules, and the most radical thing you can do is just stay open? Ryan Nicodemus joins Joel for a deeply personal conversation to explore forgiveness, the concept of formlessness, why everyone is doing the best they can, fear versus love, and why emotions – unlike apples – multiply when you give them away.
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by Joel Zaslofsky | Mar 3, 2026
After a seven-year hiatus, Joel Zaslofsky returns to podcasting with a longtime friend, Charlie Gilkey, for an unscripted, wide-ranging conversation. They cover Charlie’s evolution from “do epic shit” to “be beautifully boring,” navigating chronic illness, creative constipation, grief, holding gratitude amid global chaos, and the real trick to thriving through life’s in-between seasons.
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by Joel Zaslofsky | Feb 25, 2026
Imagine an unpredictable audio porch where I sling stories, facilitate connections, and whip up experiments to help you make friends with people, possibilities, and ideas. That’s the lovely promise with Surprise Me, Joel.
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by Joel Zaslofsky | Nov 29, 2019
Are you ready to get tiny? This Tiny House Decisions review highlights the most useful, entertaining, and potentially tricky parts of Ethan Waldman’s guide. Come for the stories, great research, or hard data and stay for the simple, intentional life.
by Joel Zaslofsky | Apr 17, 2019
This special solo episode features how to kick start any conversation, keep it humming, and leave people buzzing. Plus, how to have influence without the need for power or control and the key qualities of great facilitators.
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by Joel Zaslofsky | Oct 5, 2018
What can spreadsheets do? Just about everything. Understand the “put it in a spreadsheet” philosophy and you’ll discover how to put your life in a simple spreadsheet (the benefits will amaze you).
by Joel Zaslofsky | Sep 27, 2018
This episode features Ry Edwards to explore the nine core human needs that govern everything in life, simple questions that will help you understand why you do what you do, and why love is helping others meet their core human needs.
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by Joel Zaslofsky | Jun 20, 2018
This special solo episode features what wins the water wars: distilled, reverse osmosis, tap, or spring water. Plus why your light environment is more important than food, exercise, and sleep. AND how grief is culturally learned and when empathy isn’t serving anyone.
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by Joel Zaslofsky | May 31, 2018
This episode features Cormac Russell to explore why our unexpressed gifts can do tremendous harm, how an institutionalized five-year-old changed his life direction, and why community makes a better verb than a noun.
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by Joel Zaslofsky | Mar 22, 2018
This special solo episode features what the loneliness industry is rubbing your nose in (often successfully), some eye-opening stats about how much our isolation costs us, and what the President of the Rugged Individualists Society needs you to know.
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by Joel Zaslofsky | Feb 27, 2018
This episode features Dan Hayes on how to be a strong believer without an organized belief system, why a walk can be better for your head than your body, how the origins of our modern simplicity movement started with the Industrial Revolution, and how Dan and his wife lived in 40 square feet for seven months.
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by Joel Zaslofsky | Dec 6, 2017
This episode features Kristoffer “KC” Carter on which sacred life ingredients are needed for full life integration, why self-care is about consistency – not duration, and why the numbers 1:5:10 are so meaningful.
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by Joel Zaslofsky | Nov 6, 2017
Go here for a better, updated version of this episode: https://joelzaslofsky.com/bring-it-in-how-to-give-a-great-hug-smj-003
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by Joel Zaslofsky | Oct 23, 2017
This episode features Ma’ikwe Ludwig on how Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage happily uses 90% less resources than the average American, how competing cultures and classes can mix in beautiful ways, and why the economics, equality, or sustainability of resource-sharing works so well in intentional communities.
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by Joel Zaslofsky | Oct 9, 2017
This episode features Annie Raser-Rowland on how a frugal lifestyle can be the highest form of luxury, how to own your pleasure-seeking urges without paying for it, and what lesser known pollution may be doing to you.
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by Joel Zaslofsky | Sep 25, 2017
This episode features Emilie Wapnick on how to have the three pillars of a great multipotentialite work life – money, meaning, and variety – with approaches as diverse as the Group Hug, Slash, Einstein, or Phoenix. (And maybe even join her band of weirdos.)
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by Joel Zaslofsky | Sep 11, 2017
This special solo episode features where I’ve been on my podcasting break and what’s coming up now that the show is revived.
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by Joel Zaslofsky | Jan 9, 2017
This episode features Sarah Susanka on how to bring useful beauty to every room in your home, how to schedule your passions and actually act on them, plus why Sarah emphasizes “not so big” over small.
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by Joel Zaslofsky | Dec 26, 2016
This episode features Stephen Warley on how to make big changes without a major crisis forcing them on you, why we learn best when things are hard, and how to deprogram yourself to take on the “risk” of self-employment.
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