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Resilience Gone Wild (WinWinWin Mindset)

Resilience Gone Wild (WinWinWin Mindset)

By: Jessica Morgenthal & Kai M Sorensen
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 Explore how nature’s most adaptable species can inspire you to overcome challenges, lead with purpose, and create lasting change in yourself, your organization, and your community. Resilience isn’t just about bouncing back—it’s about evolving, learning, and thriving in the face of adversity.Join Jessica Morgenthal, a positive psychology trainer, teacher, author, speaker, coach, and consultant, as she uncovers stories of nature’s remarkable adaptation and survival. Learn from the resilience of sea turtles, parrotfish, banyan trees, and more, and discover what these incredible examples can teach us about building a win-win-win mindset.Each week, we’ll dive into awe-inspiring stories from the wild and follow up with expert insights, offering practical lessons on resilience that you can apply to your life, leadership, and organization.When nature wins, we win. Subscribe to “Resilience Gone Wild” wherever you listen to podcasts, and let’s grow stronger together.Produced by BLI Studios in partnership with a Win Win Win MindsetConnect with the host Jessica via email: jessica@winwinwinmindset.comOr on the web: winwinwinmindset.comConnect with producer Kai via email: kai@balancinglifesissues.comOr on the web: https://balancinglifesissues.com/podcast-bli/Copyright 2025 Resilience Gone Wild (WinWinWin Mindset) Biological Sciences Science
Episodes
  • Evolving Your Armor in an Ever-Changing World: What Pangolins Teach Us About Updating Protection and Accepting Help

    Evolving Your Armor in an Ever-Changing World: What Pangolins Teach Us About Updating Protection and Accepting Help
    Jan 14 2026
    Episode 67 Guest: Daniel J. Cox, Award-Winning Wildlife Photographer and Director of The Arctic Documentary Project for Polar Bears International Guest: Tim Santel, Retired Special Agent in Charge (SAC), U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement; Senior Advisor & Media Relations Director, Focused Conservation What if the very thing that once protected you… is the thing that’s now keeping you stuck? And what happens when the world changes faster than your instincts can? In this episode of Resilience Gone Wild, host Jessica Morgenthal takes us into the moonlit grasslands of Botswana, following the quiet, deliberate life of the pangolin—a living fossil with nature’s most powerful mammal armor. For more than 60 million years, the pangolin’s perfect defense was simple: curl into an unbreakable ball and wait out danger. Then humans changed the rules. Today, pangolins are the most trafficked mammals on Earth. Their scales—made of keratin, the same material as human nails and hair—are sold under false claims of medicinal power, and their meat is treated as a luxury. In a single human generation, the pangolin’s ancient protection became its vulnerability. Jessica pairs this story with a gripping, grounded interview with Tim Santel, one of the most experienced wildlife trafficking investigators in U.S. history. Tim takes us inside the real-world mechanics of trafficking networks—how wildlife is moved like any other commodity, and why weak penalties and low enforcement capacity make illegal wildlife trade so attractive to criminal syndicates. The resilience lesson is both tender and urgent: we all carry armor built for earlier seasons of life. Some of it still protects. Some of it now constricts. And sometimes resilience means doing the opposite of what we’ve always done—opening instead of closing, seeking new protection instead of relying only on the familiar. Episode Overview The episode opens in Botswana, tracing a pangolin’s sensory world—smell, vibration, memory, instinct—and the intelligence of a creature shaped by time. We learn how pangolins live, how they nurture their young, how they “read” the land, and how their scales evolved into the most formidable natural armor carried by any mammal. Then the story turns: when human trafficking enters the ecosystem, the pangolin’s perfect curl—once a masterpiece—becomes an easy handle for capture and transport. Jessica reframes this as a human mirror: the coping strategies we built to survive earlier threats may not match the threats we face now. Jessica welcomes Tim Santel to explore what it takes to protect species whose defenses can’t keep up with rapidly evolving human systems. Tim shares his path into wildlife law enforcement, the “voice for wildlife” moment that guided his career, and what he’s learned from decades of investigations into trafficking networks—from pangolin scales to rhino horns and beyond. The episode closes with two practical reflection practices to help listeners reassess their own protections, and a call to action to support conservation organizations and on-the-ground enforcement efforts working to keep pangolins—and countless other species—from disappearing. What You’ll Learn Why the pangolin’s greatest protection became its greatest vulnerability in a human-shaped worldHow “armor” shows up in our lives (withdrawing, micromanaging, bracing, overworking) and when it stops serving usWhat global wildlife trafficking networks have in common with other criminal trades—and why wildlife is so profitableThe real cost of treating living beings as commoditiesWhy awareness alone isn’t enough—and why frontline teams matterHow to update your internal protections with intention, clarity, and courageTwo practices for examining what still protects you… and what now constricts youHow attention becomes action—and why action becomes hope Episode Highlights [00:00] A moonlit pangolin in Botswana—and the question of protection [02:17] “A new season is opening…” and why this story feels personal [02:45] Pangolins as living fossils: lineage, mothering, and the world of scent [05:11] Intelligence as awareness: tremors, heat, memory maps, and escape artistry [07:34] The quiet architecture of termite mounds—and the pangolin’s role in soil health [10:01] When humans arrive: trafficking, false beliefs, and endangered collapse [12:22] The resilience lesson: protections that once served us can later constrict us [14:58] Welcome Tim Santel: protecting species that can’t protect themselves [30:48] “When wildlife dies, it doesn’t make a sound…” [39:39] Why wildlife trafficking is low risk, high profit—and the convergence of criminal networks [45:46] Pangolins: docile, ancient, and tragically easy to capture [48:16] The scale of the trade: what thousands of kilos really means [50:06] Operation Crash: how value multiplies through trafficking layers [55:41] What helps...
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    1 hr and 4 mins
  • Go With the FLOE: How Polar Bears Stay Steady When Life Keeps Shifting Beneath Them

    Go With the FLOE: How Polar Bears Stay Steady When Life Keeps Shifting Beneath Them
    Dec 17 2025
    Episode 66

    Guest: Daniel J. Cox, Award-Winning Wildlife Photographer and Director of The Arctic Documentary Project for Polar Bears International

    What if resilience during the holidays and shifting seasons isn’t about just holding everything together? How much better would it be to meet each moment and each challenge with calm and ease?

    In this episode of Resilience Gone Wild, host Jessica Morgenthal returns to one of her most beloved animals — the polar bear — to explore a resilience mindset that feels especially grounding this time of year. As many of us move through holidays, shifting routines, emotional complexity, and the turning of the year, the polar bear offers a powerful model for meeting change with steadiness rather than strain.

    Through immersive storytelling and a deeply thoughtful conversation with legendary wildlife photographer Daniel J. Cox, we explore how polar bears adapt to a world that never stops moving — and what their wisdom can teach us about living with more presence, patience, and trust.

    This episode introduces the FLOE Mindset:
    Flexibility
    Letting go
    Observation
    Energy conservation

    A resilience tool inspired directly by how polar bears survive and thrive on constantly shifting ice. FLOE is both a metaphor and an acronym — a reminder that life keeps moving beneath us, and we can move with it.

    Episode Overview

    The episode opens on the Arctic ice, where Jessica revisits the story of a polar bear mother navigating a landscape that is always in motion. Her calm, strategic adaptability becomes the foundation for the FLOE Mindset — a way of meeting uncertainty that feels especially meaningful during the holiday season and the transition into a new year.

    Jessica then welcomes wildlife photographer Daniel J. Cox, whose decades of documenting polar bears and Arctic ecosystems have shaped how millions of people understand these animals. Through Dan’s stories, we explore the discipline of waiting, the humility of stepping out of the frame, the ethics of witnessing, and the awe that emerges when we stop pushing and start paying attention.

    The episode closes with a reflection on practicing FLOE in daily life — slowing down, conserving energy, making small adjustments, and choosing gentler transitions. It also includes a call to support the conservation efforts that allow polar bears to survive the rapidly changing Arctic.

    What You’ll Learn

    • The FLOE Mindset: Flexibility, Letting Go, Observation, Energy Conservation
    • Why polar bears are masters of calm, strategic adaptation
    • How patience and presence guide both resilience and wildlife photography
    • Why attention determines what we protect
    • How to soften seasonal transitions and holiday pressures with practical micro-adaptations
    • How awe strengthens clarity, steadiness, and connection
    • What polar bears reveal about navigating a world where conditions can change overnight
    • Why protecting polar bears is a crucial part of protecting resilience in nature

    Episode Highlights

    [00:00] Intro: shifting seasons, the holidays, and returning to a favorite resilience story
    [02:00] The polar bear as a master of adaptation
    [06:50] Stillness, waiting, and energy conservation in the den
    [08:30] Introducing Daniel J. Cox — awe, patience, and presence
    [10:00] The Arctic in real time: warming, loss of ice, and what Dan is witnessing
    [13:00] Seeing through an animal’s eyes: humility and respect
    [16:45] Dan’s origin story: the deer, the challenge, and the first spark
    [20:00] Ethical storytelling: why disappearing from the narrative matters
    [22:40] Why animals always lose when humans push too far
    [33:00] Sea ice, seals, and the entire Arctic food system
    [45:40] Inside the den: what most people never see
    [56:42] Dan’s closing wisdom: stay, watch, witness
    [58:00] Jessica’s FLOE reflections for holidays, transitions, and new beginnings
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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Awakening Our Soulful Intelligence: What the Octopus — and Sy Montgomery — Know

    Awakening Our Soulful Intelligence: What the Octopus — and Sy Montgomery — Know
    Dec 3 2025
    Episode 65 Awakening Our Soulful Intelligence: What the Octopus — and Sy Montgomery — Know Guest: Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an Octopus What if resilience doesn’t come from thinking harder or pushing faster, but from listening more deeply to the intelligence that already lives within us? In this episode of Resilience Gone Wild, host Jessica Morgenthal explores the quiet, embodied wisdom of the giant Pacific octopus—and how soulful intelligence can help us navigate our own lives with more clarity, connection, and compassion. Joined by Sy Montgomery, bestselling author of The Soul of an Octopus, we step into a world where intelligence is fluid, intuitive, relational, and alive in every moment. Episode Overview In “Soulful Intelligence,” Jessica takes us into the cool stillness of a Northern Pacific kelp forest to meet the giant Pacific octopus—an animal whose distributed, sensory-rich intelligence reveals a different way of knowing the world. Through vivid storytelling, we witness how octopuses perceive, choose, communicate, and relate with a depth that challenges human assumptions about consciousness. This exploration becomes the foundation for a rich conversation with Sy Montgomery, who expands our understanding of soul, presence, and cross-species connection. Through Sy’s stories—of octopuses, dolphins, turtles, caterpillars, dogs, and the living Earth itself—we learn how soulful intelligence deepens resilience, awakens awe, and invites us into a more relational way of being. The result is an episode that reconnects us to our own inner wisdom, to the creatures who share our planet, and to the subtle intelligence that thrives everywhere life is paying attention. What You’ll Learn How the giant Pacific octopus models soulful intelligence through presence, perception, and attunementWhy soulful intelligence integrates mind, body, intuition, values, and relationshipsHow slowing down expands our ability to sense meaning and choose wiselyWhat Sy Montgomery has learned about consciousness and soul from octopuses, turtles, pink dolphins, chimps, and caterpillarsWhy love and curiosity are powerful tools of inquiry in science and in lifeHow awe, reverence, and “beginner’s mind” build resilience and restore connectionHow small acts of mending—of relationships, ecosystems, and daily choices—strengthen both the world and our own internal steadiness Episode Highlights [00:00] Intro [02:00] Distributed intelligence: sensing, learning, and decision-making across the body [04:00] Camouflage as expression: color, texture, emotion, and attunement [06:50] A quiet greeting: two octopuses meet with curiosity [08:50] Defining soulful intelligence [11:15] Why soulful intelligence strengthens resilience Conversation with Sy Montgomery [12:21] Welcoming Sy: the writer who opened the world to octopus consciousness [14:00] Sy’s octopus teachers: Athena, Octavia, Kali, and Karma [16:10] Soul as connection to the rest of creation [18:25] Why naming animals changed the science of behavior [22:39] Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, Biruté Galdikas, and the revolution of relational science [27:07] Scar tissue, resilience, and the sacredness of mending [33:01] The living Earth, Gaia, and the soul of the planet [35:06] Awe, reverence, and the responsibility of connection [37:36] Mending as antidote to helplessness [49:20] How humans silence their own intuition—and how to restore it [53:49] Being massaged by pink dolphins: a story of cross-species soul [56:42] The feedback loop of doing good [59:16] Caterpillars, memory, and the persistence of soul [01:02:10] Closing reflections: the intelligence that waits beneath our first thoughts Meet the Guest Sy Montgomery is a naturalist, bestselling author, and one of the world’s most beloved interpreters of animal consciousness. Her book The Soul of an Octopus was on the New York Times Bestseller List, was a National Book Award finalist, and reshaped public understanding of invertebrate sentience. Sy has written 39 books about animals—from hawks to pink dolphins to turtles—illuminating the relationships that remind us we are part of a living, soulful, interconnected world. Her work invites readers to listen more deeply, love more broadly, and honor the wisdom that exists beyond human boundaries. Tools, Frameworks, or Strategies Mentioned Soulful Intelligence: alignment of values, intuition, sensation, and meaningDistributed Intelligence in OctopusesBeginner’s Mind in cross-species connectionAwe as a tool for resilienceMending as a daily practice of healingThe Sphere of Influence: acting where energy can truly make a differenceGaian consciousness and interconnected living systems Closing Insight & CTA “Soulful intelligence grows in the space between stimulus and response—the pause long enough for our deeper knowing to rise.” If this episode opened something in you, share it with someone who may be searching...
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    1 hr and 11 mins
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