Welcome to a brand new addition to my blog website. I’m kicking off this new year – 2025 – with a new place to pop current resources that fuel my learning and discovery process.
I’ll update this often, so check in from time to time for a good book or podcast recommendation. Much of what I distill in my Daily Gummies of Wisdom comes from a wide variety of dynamic and relatable resources.
MY CURRENT READING LIST: Month of July, 2025
After listening to Scott Barry Kauffman discuss his latest book, Rise Above, with Dr. Michael Gervais on his Finding Mastery Podcast (June 4, 2025 episode), I knew I wanted to read his book, soaking up all his insight based on his personal experiences and his groundbreaking research on intelligence, creativity and human potential.
The subtitle of his book is: Overcome a Victim Mindset, Empower Yourself and Realize Your Full Potential. Since it feels like we are steeped in a current social culture that makes a victim mindset seem like a merit badge, this subtitle resonated with my deep interest in unpacking it.
When I flipped the book over and read the endorsements on the back jacket, it became so apparent that Scott Barry Kauffman’s work is a through line for the many, diverse fields that span personal growth and self discovery. Here’s the list:
- Arthur C. Brooks, author of Build the Life You Want
- Anna Lembke, author of Dopamine Nation
- Lori Gottlieb, author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
- Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation
- Scott Galloway, author of The Algebra of Wealth
All of these authors/researches are well known to me and frequent sources for the information I seek for personal growth and self discovery. I felt like I had just joined a book club with my dream team. I have not been disappointed — in fact, Barry’s book, Rise Above, is far exceeding my expectations. Plan on seeing nuggets of wisdom that I am gaining to be showing up in both here on this blog and in my Daily Gummies of Wisdom.
Never Play It Safe by Chase Jarvis is a page-turner. Part of me wants to keep reading and another wants to play with the 7 levers he offers to help us reclaim that playful, courageous and curious part of ourselves we had when we were kids. Not surprisingly, Chase re-energizes the mundane truths we know all too well (how we let fear hold us back, how we make ourselves small to fit in, how we struggle to stay focused with so many distractions buzzing around) and gives us that much needed nudge to do something about it.
If you want a little sneak preview of what Never Play It Safe is all about, take 30 minutes to listen to Chase Jarvis spill it all out in a delightful conversation with Martha Beck on her podcast, The Gathering Room:
Lastly, I couldn’t resist picking up Curious Minds: The Power of Connection when it was recommended to me since I am deeply fascinated by both curiosity and human connection. This book is co-authored by identical twins, Perry Zurn and Dani Bassett so we get a two for one deep dive in the remarkable networks of our brain. They explore the relations between ideas and people — and how we knit together our stories, weave complex concepts and thatch each other’s knowledge bases. This book is proving to me that “two heads are better than one” and that we humans are hardwired to be connected in a myriad of ways.
WHAT I AM READING: May 2025
WHAT WE VALUE
After finishing both Chatter and Shift by Ethan Kross, I was drawn to Dr. Emily Falk’s newest book, What We Value: The Neuroscience of Choice and Change. So many of the books being written by neuroscientists reveal to us phenomenal new breakthroughs about our core operating system — our remarkable brain. Studying how various parts of our brain light up during imaging has shown us how interactive and interconnective things really are – up there in our heads. What We Value shifts (yes, the pun is intended) how we go about changes we want to make. By anchoring our choices in our values, we can overcome “present bias” and gain the delayed gratification that comes by reaching our long term goals.
I started to put into practice right away some of the simple tools offered by Emily Falk in this book and found giving up my daily chocolate addiction was much easier than I had once believed.
Stay tuned to future blog posts where I will distill what I am discovering as I turn each page of this engaging book.
FAIR PLAY
I’m reading Fair Play after hearing Dr. Becky Kennedy recommend it on Tim Ferris’s podcast a few months ago. We rarely give a second thought to the crazy amount of energy we expend on cognitive tasks, while we overweight and overrate how much energy is spent on physical tasks. Dr. Becky wisely pointed out that it is often moms who are spending an excessive amount of energy for all the planning, organizing and thinking ahead required to run a household, raise kids and get everybody “suited and booted” for their plethora of activities.
Brene Brown once offered some advice along these lines too — sharing how she and her husband acknowledged that daily family life is rarely split 50/50. Some days, she could give 70% when Steve, her husband, had only 30% due to work demands and pulling an all nighter. Other days, she only had a small percentage of her body budget to offer – and Steve jumped in to balance out the workload.
Fair Play by Eve Rodsky opens our eyes to cognitive energy drains, as well as physical demands, and helps us reinforce a team approach for leveling the playing field when it comes to balancing the juggling act of daily life.
ON BECOMING AN ARTIST
I’m a huge fan of Dr. Ellen Langer, author of the Mindful Body, and when I heard her discussing this book she wrote during and about her foray into painting, I added it to my future reading list. What fascinated me was that Ellen Langer began painting just for fun, later in life, with no formal classes — just a few blank canvases and some paints from an artist friend. And she discovered that she loved painting.
I was inspired to read On Becoming An Artist after a recent writing workshop where a talented artist had us swapping our pens for brightly colored, textured strips of paper and taught us a weaving technique. It was incredible how this fun, artistic craft opened us up to creativity in a whole new way. I’ve since dabbled with watercolors once again — and took a pottery class with a friend. Ellen Langer’s book is keeping me inspired and open to new experiences.
WHAT I LISTENED TO IN MAY, 2025:
WHAT I AM READING: Week of March 11, 2025:
Ethan Kross tells us that we are at an infection point in our understanding and integration of the full range of our emotions — and how to effectively manage them for a rich, dynamic and fulfilling life.
This book is chock full of tools we can use to get the most out of our full range of human emotions.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rich-roll-podcast/id582272991?i=1000697354922
Inspired New Horizons 