In this deeply reflective conversation, Matt sits down with author and ikigai researcher Nicholas Kemp to explore the true meaning of the Japanese concept of ikigai — a word often misunderstood, oversimplified, and misapplied in Western culture.

Rather than a Venn diagram, a career formula, or a secret to longevity, Nicholas explains that ikigai is an emotional experience — the feeling that life is worth living. It’s found in small moments, meaningful connections, personal agency, and the quiet sense of being alive “here and now.”

Together, Matt and Nicholas unpack why ikigai is misunderstood, how to reconnect with intrinsic motivation, and why purpose doesn’t need to be chased — only felt. This episode is a grounding reminder that a “life worth living” is built moment by moment, not achieved all at once.

Key Takeaways

• What ikigai truly means in Japanese culture

• Why Western interpretations — including the Venn diagram — miss the point

• Ikigai as a feeling, not a life goal

• How intrinsic motivation shapes our sense of purpose

• The role of connection, agency, and belonging

• Misconceptions linking ikigai to longevity and Okinawa

• The importance of embracing ambiguity and cultural nuance

• How to cultivate everyday meaning in your own life

• Ikigai lives in everyday life, not a grand destiny

• It’s about felt experience, not achievement or productivity

• Meaning grows through connection, curiosity, and agency

• Letting go of pressure opens space for genuine fulfillment

• A “life worth living” is personal, emotional, and always evolving

Connect With Nicholas Kemp

Website: https://ikigaitribe.com
Book: Ikigai-Kan: Feel a Life Worth Living
Instagram: @ikigaitribe

Connect with Matt

Website: mentalnoteswithmatt.com
Instagram: @mentalnoteswithmatt
LinkedIn Newsletter: Morning Mental Notes

In this episode of Mental Notes with Matt, I sit down with Stewart Pearce, world-renowned voice coach and master sound healer. Stewart has worked with some of the world’s most recognized performers, leaders, and visionaries, including Princess Diana, to help them unlock the deeper resonance of their voice.

I first met Stewart over twenty years ago while studying at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London as part of my acting conservatory program. He was my voice teacher then, and even in that short window of time, his presence and wisdom left a lasting mark. This conversation felt like a return, a chance to revisit the part of me that first learned to breathe, speak, and show up with courage.

We talk about what it means to find your signature note, that inner frequency that lives beneath fear, conditioning, and self-doubt, and how reconnecting to it can change the way we move through the world. We explore authenticity, breath, sound, trauma, and the quiet, unseen ways that voice and presence can bring us back to ourselves.

It’s a conversation about resonance, healing, and the lifelong practice of learning to sound like you.

💡 In This Episode, We Explore:

• What it means to discover your “signature note”

• The connection between breath, emotion, and authenticity

• How fear and social conditioning mask our true voice

• The difference between doing and being

• Why stillness and presence are acts of resistance in a noisy world

• The physical and spiritual power of vibration and sound

• How simple practices—like humming—can help the body heal and decompress

• The importance of unlearning everything that made us doubt our voice

🧭 Key TakeawayYour voice isn’t just how you speak, it’s who you are. When you stop performing and start breathing, you don’t need to be louder to be heard; you simply resonate.

📚 Learn More About Stewart Pearce🌐 ⁠stewartpearce.com⁠📖 "The Alchemy of Voice" and Diana: The Voice of Change🎓 Founder of The Magnetic Voice Academy

You can find this episode and more at ⁠mentalnoteswithmatt.com⁠ or wherever you get your podcasts.

👉 If this episode resonates with you, please subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a comment or review. It goes a long way in helping the show grow.

In this episode of Mental Notes with Matt, I sit down with my very first acting teacher, Ron Millkie. While many may know him as Officer Dorf from the original Friday the 13th, I know him as the person who saw something in me before I fully saw it in myself.

Ron was the first person to invite me into the world of professional acting, and this conversation is a chance to not only honor that legacy but also explore what it means to live a life in the arts—with all its twists, setbacks, and unexpected moments of serendipity.

We talk about ambition, rejection, mentorship, making peace with missed opportunities, and the power of showing up for yourself even when no one else does. It’s a full-circle conversation about legacy, resilience, and what it really takes to keep going when you're wired to feel everything deeply.

This one means a lot to me, and I hope it speaks to something in you too.

💡 In This Episode, We Explore:

• What drew Ron to acting and how teaching found him

• The five prerequisites for success in the entertainment industry

• The story behind landing his role in Friday the 13th

• Taking initiative and the role of serendipity

• How to stay grounded through years of rejection

• What it means to “follow your bliss”, and the risk of not trying

• Building confidence without external validation

• The ongoing tension between sensitivity and resilience

• Creating and directing independent horror films in 2025

• The lasting impact of being truly seen by a mentor

🧭 Key Takeaway
Sometimes the people who shape us most aren’t the ones with the biggest spotlight, but the ones who saw us early, before we fully knew who we were. This episode is about honoring those people, recognizing the quiet power of mentorship, and remembering that every step forward starts with a moment of being seen.

📺 Check Out Ron’s Work
🎬 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTXa-94F2JNAwkNSOAGNImA
📼 Short films, horror projects, and student collaborations

You can find this episode and more at mentalnoteswithmatt.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

👉 If this episode resonated with you, please subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a comment or review. It goes a long way in helping this channel grow.

In this episode of Mental Notes with Matt, I sit down with Ezra Dewolfe, founder of ADHD Tools, a platform helping thousands of late-diagnosed adults reframe their ADHD not as a flaw to manage, but as a strength to harness.

Ezra’s work stands out because it goes beyond surface-level hacks and quick fixes. His mission is to help people with ADHD, especially entrepreneurs, creatives, and leaders, thrive by understanding the root causes behind their challenges and designing systems that truly work for their brains.

As someone who’s been on this journey myself, this conversation hit close to home. Ezra and I talk about the emotional roller coaster of getting diagnosed later in life, the myths and misconceptions that hold people back, and how to build a life that honors neurodiversity rather than fights it.

💡 In This Episode, We Explore:

• ​The emotional highs and lows of a late ADHD diagnosis
• ​Why “normal” is a myth — and how reframing it changes everything
• ​The difference between symptom management and root cause work
• ​Common learned behaviors that keep adults with ADHD stuck
• ​Practical tools for building focus, reducing burnout, and working with your brain
• ​How community, structure, and repetition can rewire the mind
• ​Ezra’s one-minute focus exercise and his favorite daily tool: the humble stopwatch

🧭 Key Takeaway

ADHD isn’t just something to manage, it’s a lens that can reveal your most creative, strategic, and empathetic self. But thriving with it means doing the deeper work: learning, unlearning, and designing systems that fit you.

📚 Connect with Ezra

https://www.theadhdtools.com/training- https://www.facebook.com/theadhdtools- https://www.instagram.com/theadhdtools

You can find this episode and more at mentalnoteswithmatt.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

Show Notes

What does it mean to lead with presence, empathy, and authenticity?

In this episode of Mental Notes with Matt, I sit down with Michael Cinquino — actor, educator, and creator of the Communication Dynamics Lab (CDL) — to talk about how high sensitivity can be a superpower and why the skills of performance belong everywhere from the stage to the boardroom.

Michael shares his journey from actor and photographer, to becoming a coach and professor helping leaders and teams communicate with clarity and humanity. Together, we explore:

• Why high sensitivity is often misunderstood — and how it fuels leadership and creativity

• The actor’s toolkit for connecting deeply and authentically

• Overcoming shame, fear, and resistance to show up fully

• Why emotional fluency isn’t a “soft skill,” but a vital leadership strength in today’s world

• The daily courage it takes to act, communicate, and live authentically

This is a conversation about sensitivity, resilience, and the courage to communicate in ways that move people.

Michael Cinquino is the creator of the Communication Dynamics Lab (CDL), a research-driven training studio that turns communication science into practical, repeatable skills for leaders and teams. Through fast experiments, high-rep training, and precise measurement, CDL develops confident, clear, and compelling communicators.

Michael has built a career at the intersection of performance, psychology, and leadership. He began his professional journey as a United States Navy Rescue Swimmer, where he learned to stay calm and decisive under extreme pressure. After his military service, Michael earned his BA in Acting and Directing from DeSales University and trained at Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts with William Esper, a protégé of Sanford Meisner. The program has produced actors such as Sebastian Stan, Tom Pelphrey, Kristin Davis, and Calista Flockhart, carrying forward the Meisner lineage of authentic, presence-driven performance.

Michael then spent nearly a decade working with the founders of the CIO Strategy Exchange, an elite forum that brought together 25 Fortune 70 CIOs from organizations like Boeing, Goldman Sachs, the Department of Defense, and the CIA. Behind closed doors, he witnessed how the world’s most powerful leaders navigate communication, trust, and influence at the highest levels.

Today, Michael combines these experiences as a professor at the University of New Hampshire’s Paul College of Business and Economics, where he teaches The Work-Ready Communicator. He is also founder of SoHo Creative Studio, where he helps executives, founders, and thought leaders translate their expertise into compelling video, podcasts, and keynote presence.

Currently pursuing a second master’s in Applied Psychology at Northwestern University, Michael continues to deepen the bridge between communication science and the psychology of presence.

He lives and works between Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Brooklyn, New York.

🔗 Connect with Michael:

• Instagram

• LinkedIn

• SoHo Creative Studio

Show Notes:
What do you do when life takes everything you’ve built… and breaks it? What do you hold onto when the person you loved most is suddenly gone?

In this deeply personal episode, I sit down with someone I’ve known since childhood to talk about grief, resilience, and what it really looks like to keep going after devastating loss. From losing her mother while pregnant, to unexpectedly losing her husband years later, she shares the raw, unfiltered truth of what it takes to survive and rebuild.

We talk about parenting through pain, what grief looks like in everyday moments, and how being strong doesn’t always mean being okay.

This is an emotional one. But it’s also filled with quiet strength, hard-earned wisdom, and the reminder that there’s no “right” way to move forward. Just your way.

If you’ve ever experienced loss—or love that left a mark—this one is for you.

📝 Mental Note of the Week:
“The storm may change you, but it doesn’t erase you. What’s left can still be whole—just a different kind of whole than before.”

—

🎧 Listen now on:
Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | iHeartRadio

🔗 Connect: mentalnoteswithmatt.com | @mentalnoteswithmatt

Disclaimer: This episode includes discussion of suicide. Please listen with care. If you are struggling, resources are linked below.

In this episode of Mental Notes with Matt, I sit down with Stephen Mosher—photographer, writer, sober alcoholic, and truth-teller. Stephen has captured portraits of some of Broadway’s brightest stars, but his greatest art may be the life he has built out of honesty, resilience, and creative courage.

From surviving two suicide attempts as a teenager to building a life anchored in transcendental meditation, therapy, and the love of his husband, Stephen shares openly about what it means to choose life day after day. Together, we talk about authenticity, the masks we wear, the small things that keep us going, and why asking for help is never a burden.

This conversation is raw, moving, and deeply human, an invitation to tell the truth out loud.

In this episode:

• How photography became a mirror of Stephen’s hope, beauty, and joy

• Lessons from living through depression and addiction

• The role of transcendental meditation and daily self-care in his healing

• What it means to truly show up authentically, even when it feels risky

• Why sharing your story and asking for help matters more than you think

• 
  

• About the Guest

  Stephen Mosher is a celebrated photographer and writer whose portraits of Broadway stars and artists are recognized for their sincerity and presence. Beyond his creative work, Stephen is open about his lifelong journey with depression, sobriety, and resilience. His story is one of truth-telling, connection, and finding beauty even in the hardest seasons.

  
  

  You can find Stephen here:

  • FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/StephenMosherPhotography/

    
    

• If you or someone you know is struggling, please know you are not alone and help is available:

  
  

  • 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (U.S.) – Dial 988 for free, 24/7, confidential support.

  • Crisis Text Line – Text HELLO to 741741 to connect with a trained counselor.

  • National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) – Call 1-800-950-6264 or visit nami.org for resources and support.

  • If outside the U.S., please look up the local crisis hotline in your country.

    
    

  Thank you for tuning in to Mental Notes with Matt. If this episode resonates, please share it with someone who might need it. And remember, you don’t have to go through it alone.

Episode Summary:
In this episode of Mental Notes with Matt, I sit down with licensed professional counselor Andrea Evgeniou to talk about the emotional masks we wear and why taking them off isn’t always as simple as it sounds.

We explore how past experiences and trauma can shape the way we present ourselves to the world, often leading us to hide our authentic selves in the name of safety, acceptance, or control. Andrea shares insights from her trauma-informed practice, including the role of safety in unmasking, the connection between ADHD and masking, and why self-compassion might be the most underused tool in healing.

From small, low-risk moments of authenticity to deeper values work, Andrea offers practical ways to loosen the straps of the masks we’ve been carrying for years. Whether you’ve felt the weight of performance in your personal life, at work, or even in friendships, this conversation is a reminder that you don’t have to rip the mask away all at once, you can start by simply letting more of yourself show.

What We Cover:

• What “wearing a mask” really means in daily life

• How masks can be both protective and limiting

• The role of safety in showing up authentically

• Why masking is so common for people with ADHD

• Small, practical steps for living more in alignment with your values

• How self-compassion can change the unmasking process

Guest Bio:
Andrea Evgeniou is a licensed professional counselor specializing in trauma-informed care, somatic healing, and helping clients reconnect with their authentic selves. With over 16 years in the mental health field, Andrea uses approaches like EMDR, DBT, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to support clients in creating meaningful, sustainable change.

Connect with Andrea:
Instagram: @andrea_evgeniou

If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who needs a reminder that it’s okay to speak honestly, even if it makes people uncomfortable.

For more episodes, visit mentalnoteswithmatt.com or follow @mentalnoteswithmatt on Instagram.