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Want a calmer mind and a clearer path without adding another hour-long ritual to your day? We sat down with returning guest Jasmine Bailey, author of Healthy by Design, to unpack STOP—a four-part, one-minute framework that turns tiny pauses into real momentum. Think of it as a portable reset you can use between meetings, in the car, or right before bed to shift from frantic to focused.

We start with Silence and Stillness, pushing back on the January rush by taking 60 seconds to breathe and let the noise settle. Then we move into Thankfulness that’s grounded—not performative positivity, but a quick reframe that validates stress while spotlighting resources you can actually use. Openness to Curiosity comes next, replacing knee-jerk judgment with better questions that lower conflict, invite empathy, and open surprising solutions. Finally, Prioritize distills overwhelm into one move: what’s the next step? No dragging next Thursday into today—just the single action that restores presence and creates momentum.

Along the way, we talk about designing a life across six key areas—emotional, financial, physical, relational, spiritual, and vocational—and why a both-and mindset matters right now. You can care for yourself and show up for others. You can pause and still make progress. Whether you’re balancing family, work, or civic engagement, STOP gives you a simple, repeatable way to protect your energy and deepen your impact.

Try one letter today and notice what changes. If you want Jasmine’s free 11-minute walkthrough of the framework, email the word STOP to info@hbdbook.com. If this conversation helped, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a breather, and leave a quick review so more listeners can find us.

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A new year starts with joy and service and quickly opens into a frank, human look at AI: where it helps, where it harms, and how we keep our voice intact. We get real about the moments you feel the machine creeping in: your inbox tells you “AI is your companion,” your tools draft replies before you do, and the pressure to move faster starts to shape how you think, work, and relate.

We walk through the practical wins—offloading repetitive emails, mining spreadsheets in seconds, asking better questions because the grunt work is lighter. Then we press into the tradeoffs. A polished auto-reply is not the same as a personal note. Using AI to rewrite a heated draft might calm the tone, but it can also shortcut the human work of pausing, breathing, and choosing a kinder response. We talk about how these micro-choices train our habits and model emotional regulation for our kids.

Zooming out, we ask harder questions about the costs we don’t see. Data centers consume water and power and are often placed in communities with less leverage. Automation reshapes jobs, pushing us to guide our kids toward resilient, creativity-centered careers where human taste and timing matter—editing, design, architecture, and work that blends empathy with judgment. We share small cultural resets that help: Gen Z’s “soft era” rituals, phone-lock devices, app limits, paper books, and in-person training that respects different learning styles. The throughline is agency. Technology is a tool; it shouldn’t become the author of our lives.

If you’re feeling both curiosity and caution about AI, you’ll find a grounded path here—one that values speed where it serves, draws clear boundaries where it doesn’t, and keeps human connection at the center. Listen, share with a friend who’s rethinking their tech habits, and leave a review with the guardrail you’re putting in place this year.

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A new year, a hard pivot: we talk frankly about why so many boys and men feel unseen, and how that vacuum gets filled by voices that promise strength but sell division. A Netflix story about a 13-year-old who kills a classmate sparked the conversation, but the thread runs through schools, social media, dating apps, and dinner tables. We trace how graduation gaps, higher male suicide rates, and manosphere influencers collide with real fears about purpose, status, and belonging.

We don’t buy the zero-sum story. Instead, we break down “toxic masculinity” as excess, not essence—how admirable traits like protection, leadership, and toughness go sideways when they harden into control and contempt. We share personal examples of what healthy masculinity looks like at home: the dad who fixes the leak, shows up with tenderness, and teaches by example; the mom who insists that kindness and curiosity are strengths, not liabilities. We also explore dating expectations—income, height, looks—and how algorithms and peer pressure narrow our choices. The fix isn’t shaming preferences; it’s widening filters and redefining value beyond paychecks and appearances.

Politics amplifies the rift by preying on scarcity thinking. When institutions spotlight people who were shut out for generations, some young men experience it as loss. Opportunists weaponize that pain. Our counter is validation without vilification: acknowledge male pain, protect women’s progress, and build a bigger tent where rights and dignity aren’t rationed. We offer practical steps for parents and mentors—normalize emotion, teach consent as mutual desire, cultivate digital literacy, and model repair after conflict—so boys can grow into men who are strong and kind at once.

If this resonates, share it with a friend, subscribe for more real talk, and leave a review with your take: what does healthy masculinity look like to you?